


Bang Bang Shoot Shoot

by nakadoo



Category: Persona 3, Persona 4, Persona 5, Persona Series
Genre: Gen, Should I Even Tag All The Characters When I Plan On Including The Whole Main Cast Of 3 4 5, They're All In The Same Academy, This Is A Happy AU Where No One Is Dead Or Angsting Too Hard
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-29
Updated: 2017-09-14
Packaged: 2018-11-21 03:33:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 35,718
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11349006
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nakadoo/pseuds/nakadoo
Summary: A bunch of college kids who take games a little too seriously





	1. Warzone

He doesn't know how it escalated to this; his back pressed up against the wall, his gun loaded with only five bullets if he counted right, and the distant sound of screaming echoing within the dark halls illuminated only by the flickering lights above him. He hasn't seen or heard from any of his friends at this point, and he can only hope that they're faring as well as he is. His finger twitched on the trigger of his gun and he—

"Are you narrating in your head again?"

Akira deflated slightly, though he stayed vigilant in keeping an eye out for any enemies. "No," he lied.

"You're getting that far off look in your eye," his companion commented with a bemused eyebrow raised. "I mean, I wouldn't have pegged you to be that kinda guy, you look so serious all the time, it's kind of cute that you're so prone to your imagination."

"You're not really in a position to talk," their third companion interjected with a knowing smirk that was really only a small twitch of his lips than an actual smirk.

The coast was clear as far as Akira could tell. He couldn't see or hear anyone besides themselves so he lowered his gun and turned his full attention to his rag tag team; they were both his seniors and both pretty popular due to how mysterious they both seemed. He's heard of them plenty, knows that they're supposedly cool and charming and good with the ladies. But now that he's had only a few hours with them, he knows that they're actually pretty weird and terribly sarcastic if they wanted to be. "Quiet," he instructed.

The silver haired boy, Souji, nodded his head. "Sorry," he apologized, bringing his own gun up to check how many rounds he had left: not many at all. Of the three of them he was the worst at handling guns, his aim was terrible and it took him a long time to reload. "I'm almost out," he informed them with a small frown. "Any bullets left?"

"Not for you," their eldest member quipped. He was an irregular third year student (though all three of them were irregular students due to their oddly timed transfers) by the name Minato. Though he looked like he'd be the most mild mannered of the three, he was actually the most brutal. "You're going to waste them. I still say he should be our meat shield."

"Harsh," Souji muttered, though he understood that it was a risk to waste too many bullets.

"There's bullets and better gear in the principal's office," Akira said, walking up to them as he shoved his gun back into it's holster at his hip. "Or so I've heard, from a previous battle."

Souji shuddered at the memory. "Dark times," he said solemnly. "I barely made it out of that one alive." He put his gun away too as Akira and Minato approached him, then pulled out a small notebook out of his pocket. He'd been drawing a map of the school for Akira's benefit since he was new to the campus, though it ended up being useful to their cause. After all, he knew the school like the back of his hand, all the little secret hiding places where other students might be cowering for their lives.

"We've hit most of the west wing," he stated, crossing out the various rooms that they'd attacked and ransacked for anything to be of use. He drew a dot where they were currently standing, the chemistry lab, and drew the quickest path to the principal's office.

Akira looked over the map and hummed softly in thought. "We should probably steer clear of the gym, we'd be too exposed." he then proceeded to draw a new path with his finger, though admittedly it would take much longer but the risk would be less.

"Mnngh," Minato grunted with a frown as he examined their new predetermined path. It was more tedious and it would call for a lot of hiding and crouching and sneaking, which he really didn't want to do. It was too much effort. "Is that really our only choice?"

Souji erased the previous path he drew and followed Akira's suggested path. "With our lacking manpower and dwindling resources, this is the best bet we've got."

"Ugh..."

"Someone's coming," Akira whispered, his stance going rigid. He pulled his gun back out, resuming his position pressed up against the wall, angling his head against the door frame of the chemistry lab to peer into the empty halls of their school. A shadow emerged from the corner, accompanied by cautious, whispered voices. Quick as a whistle, Akira was out of the room, shooting at his unsuspecting victims. Several screams were heard, and guns clattered to the floor.

"Damn it!" a voice cursed.

"We should've expected the criminal to be a pro at this," another voice added in frustration. "You having fun you psycho path?!"

Souji frowned and stepped out of the room, lifting up both his guns to point at the offenders. One gun was empty, and the other one only had two shots left, but he'd been in drama club long enough to know how to bluff his way out of almost anything. "You're done," he said flatly. "Get out of here."

Minato popped his head out of the room too, though he still held the same bored face he usually did. "Leave your guns."

"Tch..."

"Leave'em," one of boys muttered, grabbing his friend by the shoulder to lead him away. "You might end up on his shit list," he added, giving Akira the stink eye.

The victims dropped their guns and left the building, complaining all the while.

"Hey," Souji said softly, his hand landing on Akira's shoulder. "Don't let it get to you."

"They're from the track team," Minato commented as he walked passed them, reaching down to collect their spoils. "They're just a bunch of assholes."

"Not all of them," Akira muttered, putting his gun away.

"Ah," Minato exclaimed softly in realization. "The Sakamoto kid?"

"Yeah," Akira nodded almost dreamily, before shaking his head to focus. "He's a great guy. I hope he's doing okay."

"He's fast," Minato tried to cheer him up, but then he added "and he's loud too. I guess he'll be fine if he can just be quiet."

Akira snorted.

"Anyway," Souji interrupted. "We really have to be moving if we want to get to the principal's office. I'm sure someone's already planning the same thing we are."

 

**[Meanwhile...]**

 

"So I'm stuck with an idiot who can't shut his mouth, and stuck with another idiot who doesn't listen," Yukari sighed despondently with her fingers at her temple, as if trying to ease a headache that was soon to come.

"We've been doing pretty good so far haven't we?" Ryuji complained with a frown, lowering his gun so he could give his upperclassman a look of disdain. "And besides, we're almost there anyway."

Yosuke looked as if he had a pout on his face as he lowered his headphones to rest on his shoulders. "I can hear perfectly fine, thanks," he replied. Just because he was listening to his music didn't mean he couldn't hear anything else. "And he's right, we're almost there but we need to be careful. We're running out of bullets real fast, and I think the basketball club still has all its members together."

Yukari sighed again, leaning her weight back against the wall to rest. Of her current team, she was the sharp shooter with scary accuracy with her gun. Though her personal weapon choice was her trusty bow, she adapted to using a gun fairly quickly considering the short time she's had with it. "But listen, even if we got all those goods would it be enough to assure a victory?"

Yosuke crossed his arms in thought. "We'd need more people but—"

"We've only been running into assholes," Ryuji finished.

Though it wasn't really a good time to be picky with their allies, they all agreed that they didn't want any assholes on their team. They'd all been victims of the school's twisted rumors, and they'd all actually heard of each other before finally meeting in the worst of ways— in the middle of a shoot out in the school's cafeteria.

"Do you think we should look for _actual_ allies?" Yukari asked as she peered out of the window. They were on the second floor of the school's east side by the home economics room. So far they efficiently got rid of anyone who got in their way, easily thinning out the number of students still in the competition. None of them, however, have bumped into a familiar face as of yet.

"Yeah, I've been thinking... Maybe we should just team up with whoever," Yosuke suggested.

"Nu-uh, no way," Ryuji immediately disagreed, leaving his position to bump chests with Yosuke. He didn't mean to come off as a thug, he actually really liked Yosuke so far, but old habits die hard. "I'm not splitting the prize with people who hate me."

Yosuke pushed at his shoulders gently to put some space between them. "Yeah, but that's the thing: Only 10 people win this thing and—"

"It'll be easier to betray people we don't trust," Yukari finished for him, a shocked though mildly impressed expression on her face. "That's a little cold blooded."

Yosuke shrugged. "Not a lot of people like me either," he said in sympathy, giving Ryuji a crooked smile. "And hey, they're not really getting hurt anyway. This _is_ just a game after all."

Yukari laughed, a genuine smile spreading on her lips. "I actually forgot these are just paintball guns."

Ryuji's eyes went wide, his eyebrows shooting up in shock. "Damn. You keep aiming for the heart too. If that was a real gun..." he shuddered at the thought. "Remind me not to get on your shit list."

 

**[[More]Meanwhile...]**

 

"It's pretty amazing," Akihiko commented as he ducked behind a table, narrowly missing a paintball to the head. "You two are big targets but you're also really nimble." He stood back up when the rain of bullets came to a stop, shooting one of the gunmen on the other side before ducking back down to reload.

Yusuke smiled despite another rain of bullets, sounding very pleased with himself. "Thank you."

"I'm not sure if that was a compliment," Kanji grumbled as he handed Yusuke more harvested bullets from discarded guns. Though he had guns of his own, he wasn't very confident with them. He was more of a hand-to-hand combat kind of guy. And from the small chats he's been having with his two new friends, Akihiko was too. Yusuke though, he's not sure. All he knows is the kid is in the art department, he doesn't understand how someone like him could shoot so terrifyingly good.

Then again, no one really expected Kanji to be capable of knitting ridiculously cute phone charms because of his looks.

"It's a compliment," Akihiko assured, nodding his head once, curtly, at Yusuke to give him the signal to go all out. "Tatsumi, why not join the boxing club?"

Yusuke stood up at the signal and jumped over their makeshift shield, quickly decimating their opponents.

"Uhh, I'm not really good at bein' smart while fightin'," Kanji admitted. He stood up then too, to give Yusuke back up, but found that it was unnecessary. "I just hit shit with other shit."

"That's why I'll personally train you myself," Akihiko said, insisted really, as he stood up as well. The coast was clear now, and their opponents were unhappily collecting themselves and showing themselves out of the battle field. "Your stance is all wrong but it's strong, we can fix it."

"It takes time and dedication to perfect any art form," Yusuke offered. "And if Sanada-senpai sees potential in you, I think it would be worth your time to at least try," he said as he rested his gun on his hip, turning around to give Kanji a reassuring smile. The smile slipped off easily enough however, as another thought passed through the artist's mind. "Though I suppose you can't really force art either... Very well, Tatsumi-kun. You must go at your own pace."

Kanji made a confused face. He knew all the words the kid was saying, but somehow it seemed like he was speaking another language entirely. "I... I mean, sure I guess..."

"Well, the offer will always be there," Akihiko relented with a shrug as he looked over his temporary team. He's never met them before, they were from different departments, but he's seen them around. The Kitagawa kid stood out like a sore thumb because of how enigmatic he was, and the Tatsumi boy was another one of the rumored thugs he's heard so much about— he never really believed in rumors much, but he did want to see just how strong Tatsumi was if he could supposedly beat up an entire bike gang single handed.

"Thanks?" Kanji supplied, confusion oozing out of his very being. "But anyway, now what?" he asked as he walked passed Yusuke, bending down to retrieve the disposed guns. He checked each of them for bullets, plucked them out, and stuffed them in a draw string bag that he had made himself.

"Hmm?" Yusuke asked. He wasn't really paying attention anymore. His hands were out, fingers shaped into a rectangle as he tried to gain inspiration from the paint splatters on the wall. They were random, full of energy, and charmingly fun. "Hmmm..."

"We win," Akihiko replied as he gave Yusuke a questioning glance, but dismissed the oddity pretty quickly. "Or have fun. Why not both?"

Kanji scratched the back of his neck. "People're takin' this way too seriously." It's not like he really needed the prize anyway. His only real worry was getting paint on his clothes, it would be a pain to wash it all off.

"That's why it's fun, isn't it?" Akihiko asked.

"There is beauty in passion, and for anyone to be immersed in anything despite how foolish it may seem emits a sense of child-like innocence," Yusuke commented, pointedly ignoring the agonized scream and diabolical laughter coming from a floor below them. "Victory isn't the goal, it's the experience that matters most!"

Akihiko chuckled, but he more or less agreed with what Yusuke had to say. "You should make the most of your youth while you can," he advised. "Soon you'll be graduating and missing these days."

"Ah, that's right," Kanji realized. "You're graduatin' this year, huh... Still, sayin' shit like that makes you sound a lot older than you actually are."

"Is your hair prematurely graying, Sanada-senpai?" Yusuke asked as he shamelessly brushed Akihiko's hair back and away from his forehead.

"Wha— No?"

 

**[Several minutes ago, one floor below...]**

 

Naoto felt a bead of sweat trail down the side of her face. She held her pistol in front of her, pointed at the enemy across the incredibly destroyed hallway. If she were in her usual state of mind, she would have found it profoundly odd how a bunch of students could destroy school property so easily in such a short span of time. But as it was she was stuck in a stalemate, one of the drama students laying lifeless on the floor, paint stains scattered all over the front of their chest. "You're unnecessarily violent," she called bravely as she straightened her shoulders. "You call yourself a man of justice?"

Her opponent smiled gently, as if he hadn't just brutally paintball murdered the drama student without mercy. "Come now," the boy cooed at her while he pointed his pistol at her as well. "Is that anyway to treat your senior?"

She had worked with him before on a couple of cases; they were both tremendously smart for their ages and admired for their intellect only to be tossed aside when they were no longer needed. She had hoped that they would get along since they already had so many points in common, but she should have known that he was too good to be true. He may look like a saint, and act like it too, but for a long time Naoto's always suspected that he was no good. Call it her gut instincts. "Respect is given to those who deserve it."

Goro Akechi let out an amused sigh, his smile growing just a little malicious as he spoke. "You should understand how I feel, how frustrating it is to be treated like a child. How much more frustrating must it be for you? Though I myself don't see it as a divider, the world still looks down upon women..." Akechi genuinely frowned at his own words. He held high respect for Prosecutor Nijima, and he was aware of how desperately she fights to stay on top of the patriarchal society. "Don't you see? If we work together, we can prove them all wrong—"

"Your justice is different from mine," Naoto said with a voice loud enough that it echoed through the halls. "I fight for the truth, and to defends those who can't defend themselves. I won't use others as my stepping stones."

"Justice isn't black and white," Akechi argued, his frown growing deeper and angrier. "You know this. Denying what's in between is just lying to yourself."

"I'm not denying the in between. I'm just choosing to do what's best."

Akechi placed a hand over his eyes, as if he were truly distraught by her words. "You're too naive," he shook his head and straightened his posture, his finger twitching on the trigger.

"Go ahead, pull it," Naoto taunted. Akechi had used a lot of bullets when he shot the drama student down, though she wasn't sure if she counted his shots correctly. There was the possibility that he was dry, while she had two of her own shots left.

Akechi schooled his expression to his usual cheerful and calm self. "You're so smart," he smiled. "But I like being surprising—" he shot the gun in his hand, empty, but reached for the hidden gun tucked away at his belt.

Naoto flinched at the first shot and realized her mistake, diving head first into the open door to her right. She turned around just in time to see a spray of paint bullets hit the spot she was standing on and cursed, kicking the door shut before Akechi could come and finish the job. She pulled herself up, grabbed one of the arm chairs in the room, and used it to lock the door just in time to see Akechi's blurry image through the frosted glass of the door.

"I truly am fond of you, Shirogane-kun," he said as he tried the knob of the door to no avail. "So clever and quick on your feet. Those people back at the station who think otherwise are idiots."

Naoto stared at Akechi through the frosted glass, his expression unreadable. "Thank you," she said honestly. "Maybe one day we'll see eye to eye."

"I hope that we will."

"Until then..." Naoto raised her fist and banged it against the glass at the level of his face. It was the most eloquent way of telling the other detective fuck you without actually using the words. With haste she retreated from the door while she could still see her nemesis, then climbed through the open window and out into the open expanse of their campus. Out of the pan and into the fire. She grit her teeth and ran.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The one drama kid, after Akechi exits the hallway: I need those two in the drama club
> 
>  
> 
> This is what happens when your internet is down for One Whole Week so you rewatch Community for the heck of it. so ye, heavily influenced by Community's "A Fist of Paintballs" and "For A Few Paintballs More." Yall should check it out if u havent. PS! Thanks for proof reading, Joey ;)
> 
> I couldnt think of a cool title so i just used that one part in Happiness Is A Warm Gun lolololol
> 
> Freshmen: Akira (irreg), Ryuji, Kanji, Yusuke, Naoto  
> Sophomores: Souji (irreg), Yosuke  
> Juniors: Minato (irreg), Yukari, Akechi  
> Seniors: Akihiko
> 
> Teams:  
> Team Protags  
> Team "I never removed these characters from my main party"  
> Team Emperor  
> (Not Really) Team Prince Detectives


	2. More Paint

Souji suppressed a shiver as they finally made their way into the cafeteria. Not only were there paint splatters on the wall, but other various foods and sauces as well. It reminded him of Mystery Food X™, and while he usually had a strong stomach he felt queasy at the sight.

"You look pale," Akira noted, slowing down to match Souji's pace. He stood by him, his hand reaching out just in case his companion needed a shoulder to lean on. "Do you want to take a break?"

"Not in here," Souji murmured back. He felt like if he spoke any louder than a whisper, someone or something might attack him. "We're almost out," he said, pointing at the cafeteria kitchen to get to the back door. They would have gone through the front doors if it weren't for the fact that there were actual passed out students blocking the way. He wasn't sure if they were from the bio department, where students were usually too sleep deprived to move, or if they were just sleep deprived students in general.

Minato fell into place with them, nodding his head towards the kitchen. "Akira, go and check if the coast is clear."

"What," Akira whispered harshly. "I did it last time."

"Meat shield-kun's too sick to do it so you have to," Minato argued.

"You do it," Akira countered.

"I'm the oldest," Minato countered back. Then, as an afterthought added "and you're faster than I am anyway, sneakier too. You'd have a better chance."

Akira sighed because it was true, and he couldn't really argue with that logic. "Fine," he relented, moving ahead of them in silence. He crouched and hid behind corners quietly, moving quick to make sure the coast was clear. There were a few students, all with paint stains on their clothes and without weapons, sitting at the pantry and eating some of the food that was available to them. One of the students raised a bag of potato chips towards Akira as a peace offering but Akira politely declined. "It's clear," he called.

Minato and Souji clambered into the kitchen after him. Minato, took a chip from the offered bag, before regarding everyone else. "What happened here?"

"War, man," the potato chip guy said with a shrug. "It was mad crazy. People were screamin' and diving like their lives depended on it. It got a little too real for me."

Another boy chipped in, a harshly opened box of cereal in his hands. He offered some, and again Minato was the only one who took. "It got real crazy when the sports teams came in— I think it was the basketball team against the soccer team."

"Kou and Daisuke?" Souji asked from where he was leaning against the greasy stove.

Cereal boy nodded. "Yeah, those dudes. They were out for blood, for each other, and everyone else was a casualty."

"The bio kids didn't know what hit them," a boy with an opened can of alphabet soup quipped, shaking his head mournfully. "Poor guys."

"They're resting now," Potato Chip said.

"Rest in peace," Cereal boy agreed. "They will be missed."

"So where did the sports teams go?" Minato asked with a confused frown. It was too quiet and he was beginning to get nervous.

"The ones who got shot left," Alphabet Soup answered while he rubbed his chin with the end of his spoon. "Then the rest of them took the battle to the gym. I think they're fighting for rights now over who gets to use it on rainy days."

"Told you the gym was bad," Akira whispered.

"Thanks," Minato told the food eating trio. "Let's get outta here," he then said to his team.

Though Souji was the one previously leading them due to his vast knowledge of the map of their school, he was in no position to be at the head of their formation. Minato was more than used to taking on the role of responsibility when no one else wanted to, so he didn't hesitate as he pushed the doors open. It lead them to a cramped hallway, littered with stacked old and rusted pots that were falling apart at the handles. The lights blinked and flickered loudly above their heads. He maneuvered through the stacks carefully, Souji following slowly behind him, while Akira followed last.

"Which way?" Minato asked as he finally exited the depths of the cafeteria kitchen and into an open field that didn't really looked like it was taken care of; there were old desks and arm chairs ruined beyond repair scattered on the dry grass, an old water fountain that was water stained and rusted, and for some reason there was even an abandoned car rusting with age, all it's wheels gone and the windshield broken to pieces. He supposed there was no real reason to keep it clean anyway, since no one really saw this side of the school aside from the kitchen staff and mischievous students who liked to ditch classes to smoke.

Souji took a deep breath, finally free from the fumes of mixed foods and paint. His head felt a little clearer and he stood a little straighter. He looked around the area now as well, noting that it was empty and untouched by paintball soldiers— He knew this because he was here often, because the cats liked to sleep around there when it was noon. "Behind that building," he said. "Between those crates. It's gonna be a tight squeeze but it'll lead us to the back of the main building."

"We're getting closer then," Akira muttered, walking up to the mentioned crates. They were pressed up against the walls, sandwiched in between the building of the school's local bookstore and the school's main building. Akira kicked at one of the crates and realized that, just like everything in the area, they were hit with age as well. He would have climbed on top of them for an easier path, but decided against it since it probably wouldn't be able to hold his weight. The space in between the crate and the wall was small, but it was enough.

"Right," Souji nodded. He put a hand on Akira's shoulder and pulled him back slightly to take the lead once more. "Be careful not to get splinters."

"Wait," Minato called, grabbing for Souji's wrist, before pulling him out of the way hard. Just in time too— a single paintball whizzed passed them, splattering against the walls of the back of the cafeteria.

The trio ducked behind the crates, raising their guns up in preparation.

"Let's try talking to them," Akira suggested. But before either of his teammates could respond he was already standing with his arms raised to show that he came in peace. "Don't shoot," he urged. Whoever they were facing was being stealthy, and he was thinking that meant they were alone or just a few people like them. "We're friendly."

"Stupid," Minato muttered.

"Shh!" Souji scolded as he jerked his elbow into Minato's ribs. He raised his arms up as well. "We come in peace."

Minato stayed down, hiding behind the crate. They saw Souji and Akira made himself known. They didn't know he was there and it was better to have a failsafe in case things went wrong.

There was silence for a few seconds before a small voice called out. "Akira-kun?"

A startled look popped onto Akira's face. He stood on his tiptoes to peer over the crates and there, at the far end of the narrow path, was a girl with fluffy hair and a gun poised skillfully on her shoulder. "Haru?"

Relief flooded her face as she let her defenses down. "I'm so glad you're safe! Oh, and I'm sorry! I almost shot your friend!"

"Are you alone?" Akira ventured.

Haru shook her head. "No, I've allies," she replied, gesturing for her team to come out from hiding: a girl with a red sweater tied around her waist and a refined looking girl with red hair. "We found each other in the library, it's pretty safe there if you need to take a break."

"We'll be okay," Souji assured her. His eyes brightened up when he saw his friend. "You're alive," he said with a gentle smile.

"You too leader," Yukiko smiled back at him, throwing her wrist out to open her fan with a loud snap. She fanned herself as she wiped the sweat from her brow. "It's been pretty hard, but we've managed so far."

"Whoever made this ridiculous decision and funded it will see to me," the refined looking girl said with a deep frown. "This is blatant disrespect for the school, I will not have it."

"Senpai?" Minato asked, finally standing up to peer at the other team across them. He saw that his senpai was perfectly fine, not a single stain on her being, not even on her shoes. He relaxed.

"Arisato, I'm surprised to see you still in the game," she regarded him with a respectful nod of her head followed by a mildly curious glance. "I would have expected you of all people to withdraw the moment it started."

Minato shrugged vaguely. It was true, he wanted to skip out on the whole event but he was pulled in by the tide of people clamoring for a pair of guns— he eventually grabbed a pair of his own. It was a dog eat dog world, and he ran for cover when the first shots sounded and stayed in hiding until Souji Seta found him and coerced him into joining his team. "I'm too involved now to back out."

"That's just like you," Mitsuru chuckled.

"Then does this mean a truce?" Akira asked carefully. "There won't be a problem in regards to the winner slots."

Yukiko frowned slightly, and the grip she had on her gun tightened. "I need to find Chie," she told everyone with conviction in her voice. "I don't want to win unless she's with me."

Mitsuru looked at her carefully, her expression balancing between annoyance and admiration. "Though I understand why you would want that, we're not going to assist you in finding her. It would risk our operation."

"I know," Yukiko said firmly. "I understand."

"Are you sure about this?" Souji asked with concern. "I could go with you—"

"I'll be fine," Yukiko dismissed, then shrugged her shoulders. The serious expression on her face faded to a carefree smile. "I don't really want the prize anyway. Winning is fun, but I wouldn't want to win without her." She gave Souji a searching look, pressing her lips to a tight line for a brief moment before speaking again. "I'm sure you feel the same about Yosuke."

Souji scratched the back of his neck awkwardly but gave her a nod. "I get you," he agreed. "Good luck out there. Be careful."

"Hold on," Haru interrupted, reaching into her pocket for a handful of bullets. She took Yukiko's hand and poured them into her palm. "Truly a noble deed. I hope you find your friend."

Yukiko carefully handled the bullets, opened up her painball gun, and poured them in there. "Thank you," she said gratefully. "If I die, I won't regret my choice."

Minato gave a disbelieving look to an audience that wasn’t there. Too serious about this game.

"God speed," Mitsuru told her.

And with that, Yukiko ran from her team and out into the back of the main building. She kicked down the back doors with a loud bang, before running headfirst into the unknown. Chie had protected her and stood by her for as long as she could remember, and she wasn't going to let her down by winning without her. "Wait for me, Chie!" she thought with determination.

 

**[Meanwhile…]**

 

Not many people were aware of Makoto’s skill when it came to hand to hand combat. At school, she was practically a saint, a goody two shoes, and considered by some as a suck up teachers pet. She knew how people saw her, but she didn’t care. Underestimating an enemy was always a foolish mistake made by those who’d perish first.

She was good with her fists, and a force to be trifled with when she was armed with a gun (even if said gun was only a paintball gun). She had always wanted to learn how to use a real one as a child, after seeing the gun holster strapped to her father's hip when she was younger, and she never truly let go of that dream despite how the years have worn her down.

From the rooftop of the school’s main building she could see a vast majority of the campus. She saw the basketball team moving as a unit, slowly trying to conquer the whole school. But they were up against the soccer club, a formidable foe as well, and she though to wait out their dispute until they killed each other off.

She still had a large amount of bullets, choosing to snipe instead of go trigger happy. She easily came over the drama students dominating the roof, and honestly they were more than willing to play along in a dramatized death.

It had been hours since this all happened, hours since she last saw any of her friends. She would have called them to rendezvous somewhere but when she tried her cell phone, the signal was down which was odd though there wasn’t much she could do about it so her initial plan was finished instantly. So she’d taken the stealth route instead, shooting at random strangers from the rooftop to pass the time as she waited for a familiar face.

She’s heard of the rumors, of the principal still having the equipment from last year’s paint war. Unfortunately she wasn’t in good graces with the staff as she had been as a high school student so she couldn’t deny or confirm those rumors. But still, that meant that the main building was where most people would be heading, most likely people in her year since most seniors didn’t need the prize and most freshmen weren’t even aware of these yearly shoot outs. The sophomores were aware but less experienced than the juniors.

She didn’t particularly need the prize either. In all honesty, this was a game of getting rid of those she didn’t like and giving opportunities to the ones who needed it more.

Makoto heard the door click and she spun her body so fast she almost stumbled just to see who it was. She had set up trigger traps to make noise, to warn her that someone was coming. Someone was clever enough to be careful. “Who’s there?!”

Two blue eyed blond students emerged, one armed with two intimidating looking guns and another hiding right behind her.

Makoto knew these students, simply because the stood out so much. They were students from the exchange program, a boy from the Czech Republic and a girl from Poland who stuck together like glue the moment they started school.

“We come in peace,” the girl said in a rather robotic way, probably still not completely used to speaking Japanese. “We seek shelter to rest.”

The blond boy behind her nodded. “That got beary scary beary fast!” he was more fluent compared to the girl when he spoke, though he had a weird accent when he did. “Ai-chan and I almost got separated!”

Ai-chan, Aigis, nodded solemnly. “We are seeking our companions,” she informed Makoto. “And it would be most beneficial if we were to remain here.”

“I’ve got a real good sniffer!” the boy exclaimed happily, finally jumping out of the girl’s shadow as he tapped his nose enthusiastically. “If we’re here, I’ll be able to sniff out sensei for sure!”

“As well as Mintao-san,” Aigis said with a smile. “You promised me, Teddie.”

Makoto put her gun down and relaxed. The exchange students didn’t seem to be much harm. “Okay, you can stay,” she told them. “But you have to show me what your friends look like. I’ve shot a lot of students from up here and it's possible that they could have been hit by me.”

Aigis gave her a questioning look, it was almost a glare.

“I’ll admit that there are a few people that I don’t like in this school,” she told them, beckoning with a wave of her hand for them to follow her. She led them to the edge, overlooking the campus, and turned around to smile at them. “I’m not letting them win the prize, not when there are more deserving students out there.”

“Understood,” Aigis said with a firm nod. She handed her guns to Teddie, reaching into her pocket to scroll for a picture of this Minato. Teddie too showed Makoto his phone so show her sensei.

“Ah,” she shook her head. “I don’t know them, and I haven’t seen them yet.”

Aigis smiled, and she relaxed a little bit. “Then we shall wait with you,” Aigis decided.

“We can help!” Teddie cheered. “Ai-chan is a master with her guns!”

 

**[Elsewhere…]**

 

Junpei at least wished he had something else with him. His gun had a single bullet left and he just barely escaped a crossfire between the infamous basketball club and soccer club. As soon as he was free from their evil warring clutches, he sought refuge in the building he thought most comfortable.

The multimedia building, where the communication students reigned supreme (and a few art students lingered), had the most efficient AC. It was cold top to bottom, like it was early winter almost every day. He honestly rarely had a chance to visit this side of the campus since the only Comm student he knew was Fuuka, and he never really stayed long enough to appreciate how cold it was here.

Oddly enough, the building was practically untouched. People were probably too scared to damage the expensive equipment.

Junpei was bored out of his mind. The internet connection was cut off so he couldn’t even dick around on the web so he resorted to making shitty doodles with the MS paint application, and then printing them with the bluetooth printer.

While he was creating his 34th masterpiece, he heard the door click as someone stepped in. He cursed mentally for letting his guard down, though he was quick enough to grab his gun and point it at the intruder to warn them. “Who’re you?” he asked a little nervously.

“What are you doing here?” the girl asked instead of answering. She looked at his pointed gun, and then the room around them to see the scattered doodles on the floor. She picked one up and studied it, before wrinkling her nose. “This is ugly.”

“Hey!” Junpei exclaimed, deciding the girl wasn’t a threat. “I spent one whole minute making that!” It was an attempt at drawing Koromaru and honestly he thought he did a pretty good job.

“I can do better.”

It was then that Junpei noticed the way she dressed: it was definitely weird but not hard to look at. In fact she pulled it off really well! She was wearing this lolita like dress and he thought that only art students (or the theater kids) dressed that weird. But now that he really looked at her she had a single red paint stain right at her chest where her heart was.

“Yeah?” Junpei challenged, letting his guard down. She was out of the game and therefore no longer a threat. “Then do better.”

The girl strode up to him, then to the only computer that was on and sat down at the swivel chair. She took the mouse in hand and began to doodle, and sure enough she had drawn a much cuter version of Koromaru. She swiveled slowly to turn around and face Junpei, and though her face was as stoic as when she first entered, it still looked as if she were smirking at him.

“Well I’m just a beginner,” he defended. He placed his gun down on the desk, sitting on the chair next to her to study her work. “But hey, you're an art student right?”

“How did you know?”

“Lucky guess,” he smiled. “Hey, wanna give me a few pointers on how to get better at drawing?”

The girl pondered his request and looked at all of Junpei’s accumulated doodles. They were silly and not very good, but they made her lips twitch into a small smile. “I suppose,” she said hesitantly.

“Then maybe you could teach me some of the basics?” he asked hopefully. “Over lunch?”

She looked at him, untouched by the paints of war. “Perhaps when you’re done with this stupid competition.”

Junpei grinned widely. He stood up, took his gun then pointed it at his foot. Before she could ask, he pulled the trigger and a blue paintball exploded on the top of his shoe. He looked up at her with a smile and tossed his gun aside. “So now?”

The girl looked mildly bewildered but then she couldn't stop the smile that spread out on her face. “You really are stupid,” she told him as she stood up. “But I think I like that.”

“Yeah?”

The girl nodded.

“I'm, uh, Junpei,” he introduced, sticking his hands into his pockets in a shy gesture.

“Chidori,” she replied curtly.

Bashful but daring, he raised his head. “Let's go.”

 

**[At the outskirts of the campus…]**

 

Finger nails scratched against a dried paint stain to little avail. Little specs of the paint came off with each scratch but it wasn't enough to really make that big of a difference. With a defeated sigh, the hand pulled back and let the peacoat rest on the vacant seat on the side.

“I'm really sorry, Aragaki-san,” Ken muttered around the straw of his soda. He was staring at his feet, ashamed.

“Don't sweat it,” Shinjiro dismissed. “Wasn't really tryin’ to win anyway. I don't need the prize.”

“Still,” Ken said sadly. He let his eyes wander to the paint stain of Shinjiro’s coat and sighed. “It's ruined because of me.”

“Relax,” Shinjiro insisted.

Shinjiro didn't really give a rats ass about the stupid competition anyway. Akihiko had shoved a gun into his gut and went sprinting into the throng of students shooting at each other the moment he was given a chance. Shinjiro contemplated if he should follow his best friend into battle but decided that it just wasn't worth his time.

He ditched his gun and started walking to safety but the campus wide game got too serious too fast and he found himself jumping and ducking and dodging just to keep himself from getting paint on himself. He was literally at the campus gates when he saw Ken Amada and his dog, cautiously entering the premises.

Then he saw the gun and didn't even hesitate as he jumped in front of Ken to save him from being shot.

And that was how he ended up at one of the local fast food restaurants just a few minutes away from his school's campus, treating the boy he saved to a most likely unhealthy lunch. Other than the paint stain on the back of his coat, he was completely clean.

Several other students were loitering around the area too. Some were as clean as he was, while others were unlucky and practically dripping with paint. Just what the hell was happening in there???

One of the IT students that he knew walked by, the front of his jacket stained with orange paint. It almost looked like a bomb exploded on him. Feeling eyes on him, he turned and sneered. “What do you want?”

“What the hell happened to you?”

The IT guy shrugged. “I was trying to make bombs, the last one I was working on blew up on me.”

That explained the stain.

“And Takaya?”

The IT student, Jin, shook his head. “Lost sight of him after the second hour. Lost Chidori at the first.” He looked at Shinjiro's pristine form and scowled. “Forfeit?”

“No,” Shinjiro frowned.

“Well whatever,” Jin shrugged. He was holding two cans, one in each hand. They were both opened: one was coffee milk, the other was some unnaturally colored energy drink. “You heard right? All the shit that's locked away in the principal's office?”

“That's just a rumor,” Shinji dismissed. “The old man got rid of those ages ago.”

“Rumor or not,” Jin said after a swig of coffee. “Idiots are gonna go after that. The first dumbass there's gonna be eating paint for weeks,” he snickered evilly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> >The Unknown Kitchen Trio stay in the cafeteria like NPCs, giving information to whoever asks them
> 
> >Yukiko is in lesbians with Chie
> 
> >Junpei was supposed to be with Naoto and Akechi because he's Junpei Ace Detective™ but I wanted Naoto and Akechi to really be dramatic and he would have taken that away-- so he gets a cute date with Chidori instead
> 
> >I really like Jin?? No real reason, I just really liked his jacket when I first played P3 and??? Welp. Poor guy hasn't slept in days, only caffeine and sugar in his veins
> 
> >Aigis and Teddie are foreigners just because I wanted them to be :^)) they're 100% human in this AU
> 
> >This chapter wasn't proof read yet (i wanted to post it exactly a week after the first chapter lol) so for now excuse the mistakes :'))))) I'm also using this fic to practice my lacking skills in describing locations and settings in general 
> 
> >Lol @ Shinji


	3. Deals

**[Along the empty corridors...]**

 

“The hell...” Kanji muttered under his breath as they walked through their ruined campus. Someone was going to get into a lot of trouble because of this damage and Kanji hoped to hell that he wouldn't be blamed due to his delinquent looks; it had happened before even when he was on his best behavior.

Though Yusuke had enjoyed himself for the past couple hours, he was beginning to feel trepidation in his heart. The campus was almost unrecognizable, he wouldn't have recognized it if he hadn't been in it while it was slowly starting to look like it was abandoned and abused. “This is unbelievable…” He could not deny, however, that it painted him an ironic poetic image. He felt morbidly inspired.

“Don't worry about it,” Akihiko told them with a dismissive wave of his hand. He kicked away a broken arm chair that looked like it was thrown out the window from the third floor. “These battles are sponsored by a lot of companies.”

“Whatever for?” Yusuke asked, his face contorting to a genuine disturbed frown. He'd learned through eavesdropping while he was alone that these battles were commonplace every year. It was only now that he pondered what the purpose of it could be.

“Entertainment? And I guess it helps to show which students are determined or skilled enough to win,” Akihiko answered back with a shrug. He honestly wasn't sure himself, and though he had a reliable source of information regarding the current situation they were in, that person wouldn't tell him anything more than he already knew. “Though it isn't part of the prize, usually those who win are assured success after they graduate.”

“That's fuckin’ crazy,” Kanji gasped, eyes wide in disbelief. “Why the hell isn't that the main prize? More people woulda tried harder if they knew, right?”

“Initiative. They'll get to see those who want to win even with little reward,” Akihiko continued to explain as they steadily and carefully crossed the open hallway into the next building. “The winners, so to say.”

Akihiko had been one of the ten in all his years there and he was already assured a bright future: a famous coach had heard about him, and practically demanded for him to learn under his wing. If there was one thing Akihiko aimed for, it was to improve himself in whatever way he could. He had no intention of winning this year though, deciding that relinquishing his usual slot for an underclassman who could go far would be the right thing to do. “Alright,” he said to his two companions. “I'm going to make sure you guys win.”

Kanji again was bewildered. “Senpai,” he said softly, touched and amazed and inspired now too. “But what about you?”

“Isn't it my job as your senpai to pass down the torch?” he smiled at them then, bright and big and determined, before punching Kanji’s shoulder affectionately. "Don't worry about me, I'm doing this because I want to."

Yusuke straightened his back. Akihiko's pride in himself and belief in his underclassman was something to be admired, and Yusuke couldn't help but feel the utmost respect for his new found senpai. He didn't usually get along with people so well, much less those older than him, so it was a breath of fresh air to have someone so honest and sincere and selfless. "Then we are under your care, Sanada-senpai."

Kanji saw how formal Yusuke was being and couldn't help but mirror his ramrod posture. "Yeah, senpai. That's... That's really cool of you."

"It's nothing," Akihiko dismissed, finding himself straightening his posture as well. Now he was feeling bashful. The underclassmen he knew better didn't treat him like a senpai, they treated him as an equal, so it was an unusually humbling feeling to have to fresh faces looking at him with their big innocent puppy eyes. He scratched the back of his neck in an almost shy gesture before shaking his head and getting back to business. "C'mon," he said, pushing through the doors of the main building. "Now that there are less people, we're going to have to wipe out a few enemies of our own."

Kanji nodded with conviction and flexed one arm while his hand was braced on his bicep. "Let's fuckin' do this shit!" He followed after Akihiko, smile wide and ready for action.

Yusuke smiled fondly after them. It was good to have friends.

But before he could chase after them, he couldn't suppress a shudder. It felt as if there were eyes on him, on his team, so he chanced a look around. Yusuke was observant, more so than most people, and he would have noticed if someone was following them but the coast was clear. There was no one, no whispers, no quiet footsteps, nothing. But he still felt like something was wrong...

He took a deep breath to calm himself, frowning slightly as he followed his companions. As a precaution, he locked the door behind him, and barricaded it just in case.

 

**[Earlier that day, before everything began...]**

 

"This is ridiculous!" Mitsuru complained, her voice escalating. "There was a board meeting ages ago and it was a unanimous decision to end this idiocy!" She slammed her hand against the secretary's desk in anger, a frown very apparent on her face. She was usually calm and collected and professional but this was complete disregard for the decision that was made.

At her side was a boy named Odagiri, a boy she was well acquainted with and shared her unhappiness with what was about to go down. He was her former vice president of the student council during their high school days, and currently the president of the Education Department's organization. He stepped up to her side, placing documents on the secretary's desk to push them towards him. "They even had papers signed. I don't understand how this could possibly go unprocessed after all this time!"

The secretary, a man named Adachi, pulled at the collar of his messy dress shirt. His necktie was crooked and everything about him looked like he wasn't used to his position at all. "I'm sorry," he said, genuine in his apology. He took the papers pushed towards him and read them over, flipping through them quickly before putting them down with a sigh. "This isn't really part of my job description. All I do is file papers and honestly this is the first time I've seen this document," he explained. "And I'd go over it, get it processed, but that would take a week and—"

"Where is the principal?" Mitsuru asked, livid.

Adachi paled and raised his hands defensively. "He's not here right now—"

"Where?!" Mitsuru demanded.

"Presiden— I mean, Kirijo-kun," Odagiri corrected. Even after all these years, he still saw her as a president. "Calm down. We'll get to the bottom of this, as we usually do."

"You're right," Mitsuru relented after a moment of silence. She turned again to Adachi with a more composed expression. "Where is the principal and when will he be back?"

Adachi let out a sigh of relief and flipped through his calendar. "Oh boy," he sighed. "You're not going to like this, but he's not due back here before the start of the summer semester."

Anger prickled at Mitsuru but she kept it in check. She gave Adachi a curt nod, then pointed at the papers that Odagiri had given him. "Process those. Now."

"But that wont—"

"You'd better do as she says," Odagiri told him. "We understand that we wont have results right now, but we'd like for this to be avoided next year," he said sternly, as if he weren't talking to an adult and instead was talking to a child who'd done wrong.

"Sorry," Adachi replied sheepishly. "I'll get right to it."

Mitsuru and Odagiri exited the office, both upset and trying their best to keep themselves calm. But Odagiri couldn't keep his thoughts to himself, and it had been a while since he'd last spoken to Mitsuru whom he respected so dearly. "This is unbelievable," he exclaimed in exasperation. "I thought for sure..." he shook his head and sighed. "It's a waste of time, a waste of the school's financial resources when it could be used for something more... Meaningful."

Her anger had simmered down pretty quickly, and instead she took on a more troubled look as she rubbed her elbow carefully. "I know," she agreed. "But I'm certain that my father... He told me that he'd do whatever it took to have this farce discontinued." Her father had even mentioned buying off some of the board members so that a unanimous decision would be reached. Before she could continued, she saw a student spying on them from down the hall and her irritation got the best of her. "Stop eavesdropping."

Odagiri whipped around. He didn't even notice the girl. "You," he stated as the girl came out and approached them. "You're the daughter of _that_ Okumura, aren't you?" It was easy to single her out, her fluffy hair stood out too much. And her father had been part of the board members as well, just as his mother had been too. "Are you here because you've heard?"

Haru nodded her head with a frown on her face. "I was aware that this whole ordeal was supposed to have ended last year," she informed them. "But I couldn't help but overhear my father while he was speaking to his business partners, and I can't help but feel that he has something to do with the delay of the discontinuation of this... this stupid tradition."

"Do you know anything else?" Mitsuru asked, her attention on Haru now. They had met before on several occasions, mostly business galas and parties that their fathers had been invited to. If anything they were acquaintances by the mere fact that they acknowledged each other on those glamorous nights— Mitsuru never thought she'd have the chance to talk to the Okumura daughter on such odd terms. "My father has been nothing but clear with me, even he was not aware of this. Though there isn't much he can do until he gets back from his business trip..."

"I'm sorry, that's all I know," Haru sighed, wringing her hands together nervously. "But I'd like to help put an end to this, in any way I can."

"There's not much we can do now but wait," Odagiri replied with a shake of his head. He turned to Mitsuru then and squared off his shoulders. "I'll try to get into contact with my mother to see if she knows anything," he told her. "President, I think it would be best if you came on top of this game. It may give you a chance to talk to whoever is in charge this year."

"Are you not participating, Odagiri?" he had called her president even though she no longer held that position. But it was a familiar name to be called, so she didn't mind.

"My mother is a difficult person to contact," he sighed. He pulled his phone to check the time, before scrolling through his contact list. "Getting hold of her secretary is difficult enough, even if I'm her son. It would be best if I went to her myself."

"Very well," Mitsuru nodded, happier now that they were getting somewhere. "Contact me as soon as anything comes up," she told him.

"Of course," he replied, giving her a familiar smirk. "Best wishes, president. You'll hear from me soon." And with that he left, nodding at both girls before disappearing around the corner.

"Well then," Mitsuru said softly, turning her attention to Haru. "Are you any good with guns?"

Haru gave her a pleased and enthusiastic smile. "I'll show you what I'm made of!"

 

**[A cramped stall in the girl's bathroom...]**

 

"This is the worst," Ann complained in a frustrated whisper. She was hiding in a bathroom stall with another girl she didn't know. It's not that she disliked her new companion, it’s just that the situation they were forced into together was less than appealing. Not only were they trapped in the school's rumored haunted bathroom, they were also trapped in a stall that didn't flush and reeked like hell.

Outside of the stall, the head cheerleader laughed. It almost sounded like a laugh from an old shoujo anime, and Ann could even imagine the delicate hand poised in front of the laughing mouth with a pinky extended. "You've trampled into our territory and for that you get death!"

A murmur of agreement came from her squad.

"A-aren't you guys taking this a little too seriously?!" cried a desperate voice.

"We're in it to win it," said one of the cheerleaders. "Get ready to fire!"

"I can't take this anymore!" Chie whispered back at Ann. She didn't want to be there, she was scared, and it stank, and the sooner they were out the better. She kicked the stall door open and shot at the cheerleaders with reckless abandon— she didn't even have her eyes opened, too scared to see a ghost or something of the likes.

Ann shot too, wherever Chie missed, and in a few short seconds it was over.

The head cheerleader, now that they were out of the game, rolled her eyes and dropped her gun. "Tch, whatever," she grumbled. She was suddenly back to her normal self instead of a haughty shoujo anime villain. "Let's get outta here, I'm starving."

Again, a murmur of agreements passed and the rest of the cheerleaders dropped their guns and left them.

"Hey, Chie," Ann said softly, placing a hand on her shoulder. "You head out first, I'll just talk to him for a bit," she told her, pushing her gently towards the door.

Chie hesitated, looked at the spooked dude they didn't shoot, then at the door. "Okay," she said with a sigh. "I'll be waiting for you outside. But don't take too long! I hate it here!" She bolted for the door and placed at least 10 feet between herself and the haunted bathroom.

Ann turned around and extended a hand towards her friend Mishima. "I can't believe you're still alive," she laughed as she pulled him up. "You don't even have a gun on you!"

Mishima laughed sheepishly and shrugged. "I ran out of bullets. I thought it'd be easier to sneak around if I had less on me." And he'd been right, but his mistake was his need to use the bathroom and it was his misfortune to find that the men's bathroom was locked. "But hey, I owe you one."

"No problem," Ann said, heading for the door with Mishima in tow. "Do you wanna join our team?" she asked as she opened the door, and the look on Chie's face was nothing but relief. "We don't really have a plan right now, we're just looking for friends."

Mishima winced then shook his head. "Thanks but no thanks. I've had enough action for today," he replied, waving his hands awkwardly. "And I'm wearing white today too..."

"Alright," Ann said with a small frown. "Well, good luck getting out of here safe."

"You should go back for their guns though," Mishima advised. "They could still have bullets," and with that he saluted them then quietly ran down the hall and out of sight.

"I'll be right back," Ann told Chie. Mishima was right. After Chie's all out attack, she probably already used most of her bullets.

"Urrghh," Chie whined. "Hurry up, okay?! I really, really don't wanna be here!"

Ann laughed and stuck her tongue out at Chie. When they first bumped into each other, the kung-fu enthusiast was so gung-ho to pick a fight with anyone that came their way. Ann found it funny that her weakness turned out to be those silly ghost stories that went around school. Still, she was quick in harvesting the bullets and as soon as that was done she helped load up Chie's empty gun.

As soon as they were ready and loaded, Chie grabbed her by the wrist and bolted. "I hate it here, I hate it here, I hate it here!" she whined like a mantra, pulling Ann out of the hallway and out of the building where sunshine spilled upon them in it's safe from ghost glory. Chie panted and pointed an accusing finger at the building they'd just come from. "WE ARE NEVER GOING BACK IN THERE, CAPICHE?"

Ann gave an innocent look, her lips sticking out in what looked like a pout. But here eyes were bright and delighted, and she couldn't help the mischievous smirk that made its way onto her face. "Sure," she agreed, her hands hiding behind her back in a child-like gesture. "But you know, this whole school in general is haunted."

"No it’s not!" Chie argued, stomping her foot.

"I heard that there used to be a village here," Ann continued even though Chie really looked like she was about to kick someone into the stratosphere. But she started walking, leading them to the open field that was barren of any people aside from those who already had paint stains on their clothes. "It was pillaged and burned down by rouge samurais... But the ghosts of the villagers never left..."

"Stop!!!" Chie whined, grabbing Ann by the elbow and stepping in close out of fear. "Stop it! I mean it! I swear to god, if you don't—"

"Sometimes in the library, you can hear a woman sobbing—"

Chie stepped on her foot.

Ann started laughing them, a big smile on her face despite the pain. She liked Chie so far. She was straightforward and blunt and honest, and pretty cool with how strong she was but her fear of ghosts and bugs was a stark contrast to her rambunctious personality. "Sorry, I got carried away," she admitted.

"Ya think!?" Chie complained but after a few seconds of catching her breath and letting her heart settle down, she relaxed enough to survey their surroundings. There weren't many people left, and it was a miracle they'd lasted so long, so she couldn't help but be wary. Their original plan was to go for the supposed goods locked in the principal's office but, since it was just the two of them, they wouldn't stand a chance if the other student's came too. Now it was all a game of contrition and Chie was anything but patient. "I wanna quit," she whined.

"You're not having fun?" Ann asked, bewildered. She was having a lot of fun, especially in such good company. "And are you really going to quit when we could win?"

"But I'm hungry," Chie said sadly.

At the mention of food, Ann felt her stomach grumble in agreement. "W-well," she said sheepishly, blushing slightly at the sudden loud noise her stomach made. "We could head for the cafeteria? Maybe we can ransack the kitchen... And if not, that's where the good vending machines are."

Chie's face lit up immediately. "That sounds like a plan!" because honestly, they didn't really have one.

 

**[In the peaceful library...]**

 

Akechi shivered and felt the hair on the nape of his neck stand. He'd been told by a few students that the library was a safe haven, a sacred location that no one dared to tarnish and therefore a place where people hid until they were ready to go back into the fray. Akechi too was in there, having used a considerable amount of his energy looking for his new arch nemesis Naoto Shirogane. He was right in thinking that she was interesting, and he really hoped that after the game was over, she'd join him for a cup of coffee sometime.

He still had a considerable amount of bullets left, but he couldn't really say if it'd be enough. After his little run in with the other detective prince, he ran into several other people and that was all. He wasn't sure now how many people were still in the game, and he wasn't even sure anymore if he wanted to win. He was in all honesty just having fun and pretending that his antithesis was Shirogane was definitely fun.

He smiled softly.

He heard the doors open and, though the library was deemed as a neutral place, he still couldn't help but be cautious. He hid behind the bookshelves and gripped at his gun, kept quiet to hear whoever entered.

"We can rest here," a deep voice declared. "Usually, this place is off limits for violence."

"Good, cause my feet are killin' me!" another voice complained. A chair scraped against the floor and body weight was settled into the chair.

"Tatsumi-kun, this is a library. Please be quiet," another deep voice chastised.

Akechi let relief flood him for a moment. He knew that voice, and he knew that he could trust it. He shoved his gun back into it's holster and made himself known, raising a hand carefully in a wave. "Hello, Yusuke. Fancy meeting you here."

Yusuke froze slightly at his voice, his body going rigid. "Akechi," he acknowledged with a small frown on his face. He turned to him then and the grip on his gun remained. "You're alive."

Akechi shrugged and joined the group, taking a seat across the kid named Tatsumi. "That I am. Are you disappointed?" He was well aware that Yusuke and his group of unusual friends didn't like him after what had happened, The Incident as they’ve dubbed it, several years ago. Honestly, he thought they'd have forgiven him by now. But he knew, that out of all of them, Yusuke was the one who was most civil with him.

"I am."

Most civil, as well as honest. Akechi laughed.

"Whoa," Akihiko muttered softly, taking another free seat beside Kanji. "Sounds like there's some trouble here."

"Can't fight in the library," Kanji told them both.

Yusuke looked miffed at Kanji's intervention but he sighed deeply and relented. He took the chair on Akihiko's free side and dropped his gun on the table where everyone could see it, and he gave the detective prince an expectant look.

Akechi barely kept himself from rolling his eyes. But he complied, pulling out his gun again to place it on the table in front of him.

Akihiko could feel the tension between the two of them, and that's saying something because he was known to be a pretty dense guy. He scratched the back of his neck awkwardly before leaning his weight on the table, his eyes looking up to stare across the table at Akechi. He knew the kid, saw him on the newspaper and on T.V. a couple of times, but that was it. And he looked friendly enough so he couldn't really imagine what he could have done to Yusuke that was making the artist look so upset.

"What are your plans?" Akihiko asked in an attempt to diffuse the tension. "We're headed for the main building, to the principal's office."

"Sanada-senpai..!" Yusuke exclaimed, shocked and slightly betrayed. But he reminded himself that his senpai didn't know the relationship between him and Akechi, so he settled himself down again. He wanted to protest but he acknowledged the fact that it would definitely better if they had more people on their team.

Akihiko gave Yusuke a questioning look, asking with his eyes if this was alright. Though Yusuke looked reluctant he eventually nodded, and Akihiko turned his attention back to Akechi. "I'm sure you've heard that there's a lot of equipment there and it would be to our advantage if we got to it first before anyone else did."

"Hmm, I see," Akechi hummed thoughtfully. He had heard of these rumors too, but he'd also heard that the principal already got rid of the guns and old paintballs. He wasn't sure which was the truth and which was the lie, but in the end it didn't really matter because that meant people were aiming to get there, and that meant he'd be able to shoot the remaining players in the game too without having to find them. "Are you proposing I join your team?"

Akihiko gave a stiff nod.

"We need more people," Kanji added. "And I'm not really good with guns, neither is senpai..."

Yusuke frowned and sighed deeply again, but he piped up. "Loathe I am to admit this but Akechi is rather skilled..."

Akechi smiled wide. That was the closest he'd get to a compliment from someone who so blatantly hated him. "Thank you."

"..."

Akechi chuckled and shrugged, but turned his attention back to Akihiko who seemed to be their leader. "Sure, I'll join. We are working towards the same goal, after all." He stuck his hand out towards Akihiko and smiled. "I'm sorry, I didn't catch your names."

"Akihiko Sanada," the boxer introduced.

"Kanji Tatsumi," local delinquent introduced as well.

"Well, I'm pleased to meet you both," he said cheerfully, and when Akihiko too his hand he shook it. "I hope we can work well together."

"In any case, since we're all resting for now..." Akechi said as he pulled his hand back, and leaned forward instead with a serious look on his face. "Did you hear of the woman that could be heard crying here in this very library?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> >i said it would be main characters only,,,, but i really,,, love,,,, hidetoshi odagiri,,,,,, hes such an underappreciated s link,,,,
> 
> >Ann's having too much fun teasing Chie, she better hope that Yukiko doesn't find out lol
> 
> >This is becoming more crack-y with each chapter. Akechi is developing Feelings™ for Naoto but he just thinks it's deep admiration, the fool. Basically their relationship is like [this](http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=327) in this fic


	4. Game Changer

**[Outskirts of the school campus, at a local food kiosk...]**

 

“So it’s you,” Rise Kujikawa, idol-on-break for her education, gasped with her hands thrown over her mouth. She had long since been eliminated from the game, an ugly yellow stain on her white pants, and decided to wait at the local kiosk that she and her friends were regulars at. In her time waiting, she had met a girl who had confirmed the rumors that have been floating around their school for quite some time.

Fuuka Yamigishi sighed deeply, like she was tired of telling her story over and over again. She stirred her smoothie with her straw, taking a sip, before collecting herself. “It was _one_ time,” she murmured softly.

That one time being when she’d been locked inside the library after school hours when she’d fallen asleep while she was studying. When she woke up she was disoriented and confused, wondering how in the world she could have slept so long in such a position, and how no one even noticed that she was still in the library, holed up in one of the quieter sections between the shelves. She was a freshman at the time, no friends to call, and even if she did have one her phone was dead as was her laptop.

So she cried. For a few minutes, maybe ten, no one was counting. When she finally composed herself and began her plan of escape, there was already a voice calling out to her.

Her first meeting with a certain Minato Arisato. He too had fallen asleep in a secluded area, his “secret hideout” as he’d called it. He usually fell asleep in the library, long into the night, and had figured out a way to get out unnoticed.

Her cries spooked him, but he was more curious than scared. And Fuuka knows that he was the one who casually spread out the rumor about a crying girl in the library, and the rumor boomed when one of the late shift janitors admitted to hearing it too.

“Minato-kun used that ghost story to his advantage,” Fuuka explained with a small frown on her face. “He likes the library, and he likes to sleep.”

“Your friend sounds really weird,” Rise said with a bright laugh as she stretched out her legs under the table.

Rise, for the duration of her stay at school, had changed her look drastically. Her long hair was cropped a few inches shorter, was straightened, and dyed blond. She looked nothing like her idol persona, and she even used a fake name whenever someone asked. Though on her documents, she was still the same old Rise.

She didn’t know why, but she had trusted Fuuka the moment she’d set her eyes on her. She was honest when she introduced herself as Rise, and Fuuka gasped in shock but otherwise didn’t treat her like she was special or like she was a cut above the rest. It was refreshing.

“Weird, though reliable,” Fuuka admitted with a small laugh.

“He reminds me of a friend of mine,” Rise told her. “He’s like… really out there weird, but I guess it’s kind of cute? It really adds to his charm I think.”

Fuuka nodded her head in understanding and they continued to talk more. But out of the corner of her eye, she noticed something so she turned her head to see what it could be. “Rise-chan…?”

Rise tilted her head and followed Fuuka’s eyes. “Yeah?”

“That girl,” she said softly as she pointed. “She’s been pacing back and forth for awhile now…”

Rise’s smile dropped from her face and she nodded. Though she wasn’t really paying attention to much outside of their conversation, she did catch the strange girl from her peripheral vision. “I think she’s been there for a while now,” she muttered. “Do you think she’s lost?”

“Maybe she’s going to inquire about the entrance exams?” Fuuka asked more than said. “She looks like a high school student.”

Rise shook her head, doubtful. “But there’s always the internet for that,” she mused. “She looks pretty nervous… I guess we should help her out,” she said and without waiting for Fuuka to agree or disagree, she was already standing up and making her way to the girl with a confident bounce in her step. “Hey!” she greeted warmly.

The girl jolted and clutched her bag closer to her chest as the bubbly blond approached her. She willed herself not to run away, looking down at her feet and focusing on things she was familiar with; she thought of the code that she was working on back at home, and how she could improve it. She ran thousands of lines and commands in her head until she felt calm enough to look back up. She didn’t say anything though.

“Are you lost?” Rise asked.

Fuuka caught up to her quickly enough, though she had carelessly left their bags at the kiosk at their table. But Rise had assured her that it was safe enough to leave their things unattended. “We can help, if you like?” she added. Though Fuuka was usually too timid to initiate conversations more often than not, Rise’s confidence was contagious.

“I, uhm,” the girl started but still struggled. “I came to see my brother,” she told them.

“Oh!” Rise exclaimed. “What year is he?”

“First…”

Rise tilted her head to the side, a curious finger landing on the corner of her lip as she thought. “I don’t know any freshmen…”

Fuuka shook her head. “Neither do I,” she commented. “Ah, but it would be best if you didn’t go in there right now,” she gestured towards the general direction of the school gates. “It’s not safe there.”

“Not… Safe?” the girl echoed, a worried look to her shocked features.

“Oh! Not like, bad bad,” Rise said quickly with a dismissive wave of her hands. “It’s just, ummm, its catastrophic there right now. But if you want to, you can stay here with us until it’s over? We’ll help you find your brother.”

Futaba Sakura sighed deeply. Her adoptive brother, Akira, forgot his bento at home and she had the misfortune of having to deliver it to him. She would have denied her father’s request if it weren’t for the fact that he waved her promise list right in front of her face. “I… If it’s okay…” At least now she could cross off “talking to strangers” from her list.

“Hey, don’t be so glum about it!” Rise cheered, carefully taking the younger girl by the wrist to drag her back to their table. “I’ll treat you to a drink! Pick any you like!”

“And if you get bored, you can borrow my laptop if you’d like,” Fuuka offered.

At the mention of a laptop, the girl visibly relaxed.

“That’s the spirit!” Rise exclaimed as she sat down. She raised her arm, waving for a waiter to bring them a menu. “Any drink! As long as it’s not alcoholic,” she said with a wink. “Unless you want to—”

“Rise-chan!”

“I’m just kidding,” Rise laughed.

“I..!” the girl practically shouted. She was still nervous. “I’m Futaba Sakura. Th-thank you for helping me out.”

Fuuka smiled warmly at her and nodded. “It’s not a problem. I’m Fuuka, and she’s—”

“Rise Kujikawa,” Rise whispered dramatically. Luckily, not many students were loitering near their table so she didn’t have to be too quiet. “But that’s a secret between the three of us.”

 

**[In the main building…]**

 

He didn’t really know why but the game came very naturally to him despite the fact that his only experience with any kind of gun at all had been limited to water guns during humid summers, and the gun controllers for video games at the arcade. Well, he supposed it was the same principle anyway: aim, shoot, double tap, run. A game is a game and usually the rules were more or less the same.

His mother was a busy woman and she barely had time for him for most of his childhood. He’d been passed around from one care taker to another, one aunt to the next, and even from a distant family friend to complete strangers. When he was old enough to be on his own, he’d been given all that he needed: a credit card under his mother's name. All that was left for him was to find a place of his own by himself. His mother said it’d teach him how to be independent, which in retrospect it did. 

A lot of people thought him cool but with how often he had to move he never really made friends at all. He had a fling or two here and there, with both girls and guys alike but they never really stayed of made him feel much of anything.

Ryoji Mochizuki sighed. He came to school today to settle his papers once and for all before officially starting his first day, but somehow he got dragged along into this campus wide battle for a prize he didn’t really need. He could just ditch the game and head back home but there wasn't really much to do there but watch TV and maybe hook up with a stranger on tinder or something. But if he stayed he could at least take a tour around the campus, even if the circumstances were rather odd.

He heard the distant sound of footsteps approaching him and he didn’t know if he was excited or if he should hide. But the footsteps stopped before they could get too close and then he heard a “split up” and other words that were lost in a murmur. The footsteps now approaching him belonged to a single person and so in his curiosity he rounded the corner and found himself accidentally tackled by the stranger.

“Oof!”

“Ugh…”

Ryoji looked at the boy before him in a daze, either because he might have hit his head or because they boy was just _that_ breathtaking. “Do you have a band aid?” he asked before he could think. “Because I tripped and fell for you.”

The boy pushed himself up and off of him (which made Ryoji very sad) with a look of disbelief and urgency. He looked conflicted but his resolution came quickly as he grabbed Ryoji’s wrist and started pulling him along until they were both running.

“Oh wow this is moving all too fast,” Ryoji gasped as he tried to match the boy’s pace. He was shorter but _god_ did those legs carry him well. “Can’t we go on a date first? Maybe a movie and dinner?”

The look of disbelief was there again, and also possibly the look of disgust. “No time,” he said. “We have to hide.”

They ran through the halls, taking too many turns to remember, climbing up stairs and hiding behind walls until they settled in an empty bathroom, locking the door behind them. When Ryoji caught his breath he tried to muster a smile. “So, _wow_. Okay, in the bathroom. Alright, I’ve never done it in a public bathroom before but I’ve always wondered—”

“No,” The other boy said flatly, his face scrunching up as if he stepped on dog poo. “What are you talking about?”

Ryoji looked confused. “You, me, the horizontal tango?” he gestured between the two of them like it was the most obvious thing in the world, then pointed to an empty stall.

“Uh, no?” The boy said. “Who are you?”

“The man of your dreams I hope,” Ryoji answered hopefully.

“Urgh…” The boy busied himself with checking his gun for bullets and nodded to Ryoji’s gun.

“It’s loaded,” he said. “But don’t worry, I won't shoot you or anything.”

“Shut up,” he whined.

Ryoji leaned against the wall, trying to look suave. It might have worked on other people but the boy was just not budging. “Can I at least know your name?”

“Arisato,” Minato said. He decided for now to keep his first name a secret because he could tell that this stranger was the type to jump to first name basis without warning.

“I’m Mochizuki Ryoji!” Ryoji introduced. “I’m transferring to this school tomorrow.”

“Huh, strange—” Minato commented but was interrupted.

“To have a new student so late into the semester?” Ryoji finished. “It’s a little complicated but if you like you can come to my place and I can tell you all about it.”

Minato rolled his eyes.

Ryoji sighed, seeing that he wasn’t going to get anywhere with this kid so he dropped his flirtatious demeanor for now. “So who are we hiding from?”

“I don’t know,” Minato sounded relieved now that the flirting was done. “We don’t know who he is but he’s apparently been lingering in this building.”

“Like a guard?”

“We think he might be keeping the principal’s office safe.”

Ryoji hummed as he recalled. Earlier that morning he was outside the principal's office, chatting up the jittery secretary while he waited for his new school ID and his subject list. It was only an hour later that Mr. Adachi apologized and asked him to come again later before his lunch break. That was before all hell broke loose. “Who is he?”

Minato shrugged and shook his head before pressing his ear against the door to listen. “The guy’s crazy,” he murmured. “Decked out in full gear, even had chains and a mask on…”

Ryoji pressed his ear against the door too, facing Minato as he strained to hear. If he focused hard enough he could hear the distant rattling of chains. He shivered. “We probably shouldn’t stay in one place for too long,” he told Minato. “We have to—”

“Be careful,” Minato finished. He nodded his head once and slowly unlocked the door. The rattling chains sounded more distinct now that the door was open, and it only added to his bubbling anxiety. He took hold of Ryoji’s wrist again and started pulling, walking at a brisk pace while trying to keep his footsteps from being too noisy.

Ryoji followed suit, pulling his hand back so they could walk more efficiently. In the softest whisper he could muster, he asked “do we escape?”

Minato shook his head. “I have to meet my team…”

Ryoji nodded in understanding and kept his eyes peeled, looking behind him and everywhere to make sure they weren’t being followed. “I’ll protect you, Arisato-kun.” And Ryoji was rewarded with a wry grin that left him breathless.

 

**[Main building, several halls down...]**

 

“Do you have to keep glaring at me?” Souji whispered to Akira as he checked their perimeter. That man, the guard, gave him the nerves and Akira’s constant glaring was only adding to his ire. “Did I do something to upset you?” He asked, deciding that it would be an opportune moment to confront this problem while they were safe.

Akira looked mildly surprised, his eyes wide and eyebrows raised. It wasn’t that he disliked Souji, he just took a shining to Minato almost as soon as they met so now it was a little awkward without him. Souji was someone he was having a hard time connecting with despite knowing that his upperclassman was nothing but kind and understanding. Maybe it was because he was too friendly, Akira wasn’t sure. “I’m not glaring.”

“You’re doing it right now.”

If he was glaring it only got more intense. Akira pulled off his glasses and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Sorry,” he mumbled. “Haven’t had coffee today” and he was suffering from the relapse. He’d become too dependent on it.

The frown on Souji’s face instantly lifted in understanding. “Silly,” he scolded in a friendly manner, reaching his hand out to ruffle Akira’s hair. “We were already at the cafeteria, you should’ve said something earlier.”

Akira sighed deeply and placed his glasses back on. “Vending machine?”

Souji hummed as he pulled out his pocket map, flipping the pages open. “There’s one on the floor below us but…”

Chains rattled in the distance.

They both shuddered.

“We need to get to the principal’s office soon— is it getting closer?” he asked, his face going pale.

“Shit,” Akira hissed. He snuck to the corner of the hall, dreading the fact that they were currently at a dead end. Sure enough, as he peeked around the corner, he cloaked figure started slowly making its way towards them He shook his head and went back to Souji, grabbing him by the wrist towards the window.

“What are you doing?!” Souji hissed. Akira was most definitely trying to push him out the window from the second floor.

“Climb!!!” Akira hissed back.

“I— That’s dangerous!!”

Akira pulled him back with a distressed scowl then pulled the window open. He looked out, saw that there was a narrow ledge that was wide enough to walk on. He climbed out the window and moved to give room for Souji. “C’mon!” He started moving, his back pressed against the wall as he kept his gaze up. A few feet away there was a window that the could climb into. When he saw that Souji was finally following him, he jumped up and hooked his fingers on the ledge above him before pulling himself up.

“What…” Souji stared in disbelief. He heard the chains though and decided to save his awe for later. With less grace than Akira, he jumped up and grabbed for the ledge and pulled himself up with the help of Akira.

“Window’s locked from the inside,” Akira said with a frown. He tried it again to no avail.

“I got this,” Souji said a little out of breath. “Do you have a handkerchief?” he asked, pulling out his own to wind around his knuckles.

“Ah yes,” Akira said softly. He handed it to him and pursed his lips as he watched his upperclassman wind it around his hand too. “A...are you sure about this?”

“No,” Souji admitted. He gripped onto the window frame with his free hand and, gathering all his strength, he put his hand through the window— except it didn’t go through until he punched at the same spot several more times. He hissed as he unlatched the window lock and he pulled his hand back, a little bit bloody from the broken shards that scratched him. He pulled the window open and clambered in with Akira stumbling in after him.

Face first on the floor and Akira sprawled on top of him, Souji laughed. “We’re in.”

 

**[At the campus center, in front of the main building…]**

 

“Watch out!”

Ryuji gasped and let out an “oof!” as he was tackled to the ground. He would have complained but he saw the paintball bullet that barely missed his head. “What the hell!?” He yelped, pushing himself and Yosuke up to sitting positions. “What the ‘eff was that?!”

Yukari shot at the unseen enemy, to ward them off, but it did little. Though she didn’t see it she heard the hail of bullets heading their way. She let her gun drop from her hands and it dangled by her hip by the strap around her shoulder and grabbed both boys by their forearms and pulled them up with a surprising amount of strength. “RUN!” she urged, taking the lead before ducking behind one of the buildings.

Yosuke tumbled after her and Ryuji dived in like a baseball player behind him.

Ryuji held his gun and panted, peering around the corner. Whoever was shooting at them didn’t follow them but he saw a window shut from the second floor of the main building, a dark cloak fluttering out of sight. “Jesus!”

“Owww,” Yosuke whined, his hand wrapped around his arm. He ended up skidding against the asphalt in rescuing Ryuji and he had several scratches running along his arm.

“That was careless!” Yukari scolded, but she was worried. “Are you okay?”

“I’ll be fine,” Yosuke assured her. He stretched his arm out slowly, testing the waters, and winced at the sting. “Damn… That was stupid.”

“Aw dude,” Ryuji said with guilt, crouching down next to Yosuke to examine his wound. “I’m sorry, I shoulda been more careful.”

“It’s fine! Really!” Yosuke insisted, feeling a little bit flustered. It was always so odd to be on the receiving end of concern.

“Let’s go to the clinic,” Yukari said as she stood up, offering her hand to help Yosuke up. “We’re pretty close by. I know a little bit of first aid, so we should clean that up before it gets infected.”

“For the most part we’re safe,” Ryuji said as he stood up, offering to help Yosuke if needed but Yosuke insisted again that he was fine. “We just need to steer clear from the windows of the main building. If that dude really wanted us dead he shoulda chased us by now.”

They took a detour, avoiding the main building for now, and talked in hushed voices. “Then that means the equipment really is there,” Yukari said with a frown. “And if that guy’s there and waiting, that means no one else has gotten to it yet.”

“Do you think we should ask around? Like ask the people who’ve tried?” Yosuke asked. The blood was thickly trailing down his arm but it didn’t hurt too badly anymore. When Ryuji offered a handkerchief, he was thankful. “Maybe they know something about that guy, I didn’t get a good look but I don’t think I’ve ever seen him before.”

Ryuji frowned and held his gun a little tighter. “There’s no one to ask…”

It was at that moment that they realized how quiet it was. There were faint sounds of a crowd but they sounded miles away. “Maybe we’re one of the few left in the game,” Yukari told them. “It was like this last year too. Anyone who was out got bored of waiting and left.”

“Then we gotta be careful yeah?” Ryuji said, sticking a little closer. “It’s easier to sneak when it’s quiet. Anyone could be watching us…”

“Don’t say it so creepily!” Yukari shouted, then brought her voice down to a whisper. “Are you trying to scare me?!”

“Wha?! N-no!”

“Guys…” Yosuke moaned. “The clinic?”

 

**[Main building, by the registration office…]**

 

“Who are you?!” Yukiko demanded, her heart beating wildly in her chest as she raised her gun. “Show your face!”

The hooded figure lingered by the door, guns in both hands. It stayed quiet.

Yukiko was disturbed, but she was glad at that moment that Chie wasn’t there because she would have been too scared and it would have been a more difficult task to get answers from the stranger. Not that she was getting any answers at the moment.

When the figure stayed quiet and took a step forward, Yukiko didn’t hesitate to shoot, though she missed it’s head by a hair. The hood fell back though in it’s haste to dodge and Yukiko got a look at her attacker. She didn’t know him, has never seen him before, which she found odd. She was good at remembering faces and she was positive that the person wasn’t anyone from their school.

Before she could question him more or even escape, her gun was yanked from her and the nozzle pointed at her chest. She raised her arms, as if she were surrendering, but grabbed the nozzle and pointed it at the ceiling as he shot. It was a little trick she learned from Chie when they were younger, and she was glad to put it to use.

Her attacker was shocked, and using that little window Yukiko ducked under his arm and ran out the door, running as fast as her legs could carry her. She didn’t turn back, the rattling chains were enough of a warning to tell her that he was following. She knocked things to the ground as she ran and finally found an open window. She climbed out, ducking down and crawling away before she heard the chains pass by her completely. She didn’t stop crawling quietly until she was at least a hundred meters away.

She settled under the shade of one of the trees where people usually loitered and pulled her hair up into a bun. She fanned herself for a few minutes with her fan before letting out a sigh of relief. “I have to warn the others,” she said with a frown. 

Souji and his other companions, unfortunately, followed her not long after she separated from them. “Be safe,” she murmured. Checking her phone, she saw that there was still no reception. No way to contact any of her friends to tell them to avoid the main building.

She was armed with nothing but her fan now, and though her fan had served her well for all these years in fending off creeps and perverts, there was not much she could do. Searching for Chie without anything would be too risky, especially with that strange man loitering in their campus.

She stood up after a while, deciding it would be best to keep moving instead of being a sitting duck.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> >holy hot flippin hell like,,, have you guys seen [Rise's original concept art?](https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/92/87/f3/9287f3c95ee294dd67167e509ccef545.jpg) Like fuck god damn she could step on me any day. Throughout this whole fic (and if i decide to do other stories in this universe) Rise's gonna look like the one on the left
> 
> >ive been shipping minoji for _years_ :^( i dont think im gonna put ships in this fic tho, but only very heavily implied
> 
> >Souji put his hand through the window just like how he puts his hand through the TV ;)
> 
> >YUKIKO WAS ACTUALLY SUPPOSED TO "DIE" IN THIS CHAPTER but i like her too much to do that for now, she hasn't even met up with chie yet
> 
> >Also ill try my best to update every thursday (or friday)
> 
> >PS if there are spelling mistakes, tell me about it. My "s" button is wonky so sometimes it doesn't respond as well as the other keys


	5. Anticipate

**[Main building, first floor…]**

 

“Do you think it's safe now?” Haru asked in her tiny voice, peeking around the corner to make sure they were indeed safe. It seemed like they were alone so she let her guard down a fraction and turned to her redhead companion.

Mitsuru shook her head unhappily as she checked her phone. She had been hoping to have updates from Odagiri, but she had no reception, has had no reception for the past couple hours. “With that stranger still roaming around, I doubt we’ll truly be safe.” She pocketed her phone and stared down the hallway before her, hearing the distant sound of chains rattling that seemed to be echoing and bouncing off the walls. “Do you have any inkling as to who that person may be?”

Haru shook her head and moved a little closer. Though she was considerably brave, the chains unnerved her. “I don’t have a clue,” she said with a frown. “Did you see their face?”

With a proud smirk, Mitsuru nodded her head. “Yes, I caught a glimpse,” she said but then the smirk fell and a frown arose. “Though it was quick, and I don’t think I can put a name to his face.”

“We could check the library,” Haru suggested, walking briskly down the hall as she heard the chains come closer. Mitsuru followed without question. “The year books are there, we could try looking for him.”

Though it was a perfect idea, Mitsuru didn’t completely see the point. Then again, she supposed knowing your enemy better was more than nothing. The phrase “keep your friends close and your enemies closer” ran through her mind and she nodded. “Yes, perhaps a strategic retreat would be the best option for now.”

“But what about the others?” Haru asked. “We don’t know where they are. Should we leave them?”

“I don’t like the idea, but regrouping with them will be difficult. If they’re being smart like we are they’re constantly on the move…” Mitsuru rubbed her chin in thought. “Perhaps we could—”

A loud and painful sounding splat was heard. She felt the bullet brush against her leg, though thankfully it did not implode on that impact. “Run!” she shouted, grabbing Haru by the wrist to drag her along. “I have a plan, but we need to lose him first!”

Getting over her Initial shock, Haru nodded with conviction. She took the lead then, running ahead of Mitsuru until the older girl finally let go of her wrist for more efficient running. “Leave it to me,” she said. “And follow my lead!”

Mitsuru found herself impressed and pleasantly surprised with how quick and nimble Haru was. The girl just continued to amaze her with her headstrong approach in battle, and her clever wit to sneak passed the stranger by convincing her to hide in one of the janitor’s closet. And after 20 minutes that felt like hours, Mitsuru placed a hand on the wall to steady herself as she caught her breath. “That was,” she panted. “That was _amazing._ ”

“Thank you!” Haru didn’t even look breathless at all. “I think we’re safe for now,” she added with a confident nod. “So what was your plan.”

Mitsuru straightened her posture and folded her arms over her chest. She looked left, right, and started walking quietly down the hall. “We can use the PA system to tell the others where we are. But we risk our location to everyone else still in the game, as well as the stranger.”

Haru kept pace with Mitsuru’s brisk walk. “Maybe we can use a code. Morse code?”

“Do you know how?”

Haru in fact did know. She learned it out of boredom and she was glad to know that it would come in handy. “But I’m not sure if anyone else can decode it.”

“I think that my friend knows,” Mitsuru mumbled. “He has odd hobbies, I wouldn’t be surprised if he did.”

“We’ll try it once and if nothing happens we’ll have to risk ourselves.”

Mitsuru nodded. “It’s better than nothing.”

 

**[An empty classroom on the 3rd floor of the main building…]**

 

Luckily Souji’s hand was not bleeding too badly and none of the shards got stuck in his skin. Akira had managed to clean it up to the best of his abilities but it would have to do for now.

As it was, they were safe. The door’s lock was intact, and if the strange man (who they dubbed as “The Reaper”) decided to try and look for them, they’d hear him first and they already had an escape route out through the window.

They took the time to rest and Souji, his dominant hand incapacitated for now, was trying and failing to draw cats on the whiteboard. He didn’t give up and persisted even if one of the cats looked like it was dying.

Akira checked out the window, scanning the grounds for the safest escape route. With the type of gun The Reaper had, it was safe to assume that it’s range was short. So the moment they got out the building, they’d have to book it as fast as they could. “I don’t like this,” Akira said after a while, pulling back from the window and back into the darkness of the room. It was getting darker outside as well, which was very bad because visibility would be low and he already had bad eyesight to begin with. “We’re like sitting ducks.”

“Sometimes all we can do is wait,” Souji told him sagely. He gave up after the 15th cat and capped the whiteboard marker before turning to Akira. “Take this time to rest, we should move again in a few minutes.”

“Okay,” Akira relented with a small pout. He leaned against the wall closest to their escape route and slid down until he was sitting on the floor.

Souji joined him, sitting at a friendly distance as he carefully flexed the fingers of his damaged hand. He winced but tried to not let it show on his face. Akira seemed to be very troubled with waiting, so he decided to fill the time with idle talk. “You know,” he started with a soft chuckle “I’ve been taken to the police station twice.”

Akira raised an eyebrow at him. Mild mannered and overly polite Souji Seta at the police station? He could hardly believe it. “Yeah? What for?”

“Carrying illegal weapons,” Souji said and waved his hand at Akira’s absolutely bewildered expression. “Fake illegal weapons mind you,” he added.

Akira found himself laughing. “From the airsoft place?”

“Yeah!” Souji laughed. “My best friend thought it would be a good idea to wave them around in the Junes food court… Well, I guess I can’t really put all the blame on him considering how excited I was too.”

Akira shook his head in amusement, then brushed his bangs away from his face. “And the second time?”

Souji took on a more serious look. “Brought in for questioning,” he murmured. “They kept me overnight, they thought I was an accomplice.”

Akira raised an eyebrow, silently urging for his new friend to continue.

“My uncle, he’s a detective,” he explained. “He was working on a case while I was still living with him and I got too interested… Too involved. He thought I knew too much.”

“Were you involved..?”

“No. It’s just easier for civilians to be more honest and talkative when a charming young man such as myself asks about the murders,” Souji laughed. “It was difficult trying to convince him I was innocent though.”

Silence fell upon them, but Akira broke it tentatively. “Why are you telling me this?”

“Because I want you to know that sometimes the adults are blind to the truth even if they have the best intentions in mind,” Souji told him with a reassuring pat to Akira’s thigh. “I don’t believe in any of the rumors about you. I’ll only believe the truth that you tell me.”

Warmth. That was what Akira felt. Not a lot of people were capable of making him feel that way, and he’s surprised that Souji had elicited it so easily. It was the sincere look in his eyes, the way he’d open up so easily, that made Akira trust him now more than ever. He found himself opening up, which surprised himself. He told Souji of the night he was wrongfully accused and sued, how he’d spent nearly a year on probation and a few months in juvie. He told him how angry he felt, and how much he detested the adults who never seemed to listen.

There was something about Souji that made it easy to talk. Maybe this is how people felt when they told him he was a good listener.

“That’s rough buddy,” Souji told him with a wince. “It’s not much but I hope karma bites him in the ass.”

“I hope so too—”

It was quiet but they both heard it. The soft tap tap tapping of a finger against a microphone. They went stiff at the sound, ears straining to hear anything else. After a while the same pattern of taps came again.

“Hold on, I get this,” Souji said as he reached into his pocket. He handed the notebook and pen to Akira, and asked him to write down the letters he dictated. When the rhythmic tapping looped again, he looked at Akira. “Read that back to me.”

“Library,” Akira replied.

Souji nodded and stood up, taking the notebook with him to spread it open on the table.

Akira approached him and looked at the map carefully.

“We’re here,” Souji pointed. He flipped through a few pages and then pointed again. “The library… Think you can find us an escape route?” He smirked.

Akira smirked back with a twinkle in his eyes. “I’ve got this.”

 

**[Second floor staircase…]**

 

Only the sound of their shoes clacking against the tiles echoed in the staircase. Not even the distant chain rattling could be heard this time, which meant that the stranger they’ve decided to call Death was far away. Still, Minato felt worried but most of his anxiety was eased by Ryoji’s carefree attitude towards everything.

“Arisato-kun, wait,” Ryoji caught him by the arm, stopping him from taking another step before pointing up at the ceiling with a thoughtful expression. “Do you hear that?”

Minato tilted his head, his ear up the the ceiling as much as he could. “Tapping,” he answered.

“Not just random tapping,” Ryoji said resolutely. When the repetitive tapping followed the same rhythm, Ryoji nodded. “It says the library.”

“Oh,” Minato looked impressed. Ryoji hoped he was very impressed. “You know Morse code?”

“I know a lot of languages,” he answered as he took the lead down the stairs. “But I’m the best at the language of love,” he winked and then rounded the corner into the hallway before popping his head back into Minato’s view. He gave a genuinely awkward smile that almost looked charming. “I don’t know where the library is.”

 

**[The clinic…]**

 

“Have you guys ever played Silent Hill?” Ryuji said in a whisper, though it wasn’t really necessary to do so since they were more or less safe. But the atmosphere kept him on edge and he couldn’t stop himself from peeking out the door every so often where he was keeping watch.

“Don’t say that,” Yosuke said with a small whine in his voice.

“I was trying not to think about it,” Yukari said through gritted teeth. Though she was carefully wrapping Yosuke’s arm with some bandages they found, her movements were more frantic and rough at Ryuji’s words. “Why’d you have to go and say it!” She tugged a little too tightly.

“Um, hello? I’m thankful that the blood stopped dripping but I’d like for the blood circulation to keep going!” Yosuke yelped as he pulled his arm back. He unwound some of the bandages and felt the blood flow back into his arm. Usually he was polite with new people, especially girls, since he already had the reputation of Prince of Junes hanging over his head and didn’t want to tarnish his already looked down upon image. But he felt oddly comfortable with Ryuji and Yukari, enough that he could show them his genuine ire.

“Oh, sorry,” Yukari apologized while drawing her hands back. When Yosuke started flexing his fingers again, she worked on dressing his wound carefully this time.

“You’re pretty badass, senpai,” Ryuji commented with his back turned to the door to face them. “So it’s kind of funny to see you so flustered because its a little spooky in here.”

Yukari frowned at his comment as she finished dressing Yosuke’s wound. “It’s not like I’m invincible or anything.”

“I guess,” Ryuji shrugged. “Anyway, should we keep going or should we rest up a bit?”

“I’m good to move,” Yosuke informed them as he hopped off the bed he was sitting on. “But I don’t think I can shoot too well right now.”

“That’s okay,” Yukari assured him. “There can’t be many of us left. It’s like a ghost town out there… And it’s starting to get dark too…” And she was beginning to legitimately get worried.

“There aren't any ghosts or anything,” Yosuke said with certainty. “Why be scared of ghosts when people who’re alive can actually hurt you?”

“I hear ya,” Ryuji said with a scowl that looked like he remembered something unpleasant. He shook his head and peeked out the door again before pushing it and holding it open for them. “C’mon, let’s scram before someone finds us.”

 

**[Outside the cafeteria…]**

 

After having their fill of whatever they could get from the cafeteria, the two girls leaned against the wall and let out a sigh of relief. The cafeteria was empty aside from a few students who were knocked out on the floor, and the trio who decided to camp out in the kitchen to help any weary travelers with information and food.

Chie sipped on her juice box and rolled her shoulders to ease the tension there. “So now what do we do? I haven’t seen people in ages,” she said with a frown, leaning a bit forward to peer past Ann to see that there really was no one in sight.

“Those guys said that the sports teams are still going strong…” Ann said while rubbing her chin in thought. “Maybe we could check out the gym, that’s probably their stronghold.”

“Didn’t Cereal Boy say they were having a war there?” Chie countered.

“That was probably hours ago so there’re probably less of them now,” Ann said with a determined nod. “And since we bargained with those bio students for their bullets, we could really make it rain,” her smile turned into something a little more wicked and cruel and she couldn’t help but snicker into her hand.

Chie rolled her head and her neck gave a few tiny cracks. With an exaggerated and exasperated roll of her eyes, she slumped against the wall they were leaning against. “Why is it that all the pretty girls I know are kinda crazy?” She remembered Rise’s bold personality, Yukiko’s brash initiative, and now Ann’s almost malicious determination. “You guys are breaking hearts all around,” she said with a despondent shake of her head. “Don’t guys usually like… demure kind of girls?”

Ann shrugged grandly and stuck her tongue out. “I don’t care about what guys think about me.”

“Yeah?” Chie let out a sheepish laugh and took one last sip of her juice before tossing the box into the nearest trash can. “That’s what all the pretty girls say too.”

“You’re plenty pretty, Chie,” Ann told her with a bright smile and no room for argument. She was sincere in her declaration; to Ann most girls were already very pretty to begin with, even more so if their personalities were good too. It was rare that she met someone she liked so instantly, so she was a little bit surprised but grateful for their meeting. “I’m sure there are guys out there who’re interested in you.”

Chie gave her a wry grin and a laugh to match. “I don’t care about what guys think about me,” she mimicked and even winked.

Ann snickered and nodded happily. “That’s the spirit!” She pushed off the wall and started walking, Chie following right behind her. “C’mon, let’s hit the gym.”

On the way there they were ambushed by a few members of the volleyball team who sneered and taunted at Ann with her high school’s past. Ann was more than pleased when Chie completely ignored their words and went in for the kill; though she wasn’t really that great at handling guns, the wanna-be martial artist’s reaction and response time was far beyond average. She had easily dodged the bullets, then disarmed the students, before Ann shot them into submission.

“Jerks,” Chie huffed at their retreating backs, sending them a scowl and a stuck out tongue. “Jeeze! You’d think they’d grow out of name-calling and teasing!”

“Yeah, a bunch of jerks,” Ann agreed, twirling a lock of her hair with her fingers pensively. Though she said she didn’t care about what other people thought about her, she still felt a little affected when people talked about her forced relationship with her old high school teacher. She was just glad that he was in jail now. Shaking the her head as if it would shake of her negative thoughts, she straightened and started heading towards the gym once more.

They were greeted again by other various sports teams, like the kendo club, the swim team, and even the track and field team that she too detested on Ryuji’s behalf, but they eventually made it to the front of the gym.

“Hey, I know you’re all fired up but we should take a break first,” Chie told her, a hand on her shoulder to keep her from moving forward. “I mean it, you’re looking tired.”

“Oh…” Ann took in a deep breath and sighed. Her arms did feel a little sore and so did her legs. “Sorry, you’re right.”

“We cleared out most of the area so we should be good,” Chie said brightly, then pointed to one of the benches that was out of sight unless you really looked for it. “C’mon, let’s rest there.”

As they headed towards Chie’s suggested location, a man crept out of the shadows and followed closely behind them. While the girls chatted quietly, he walked a little faster, his hand held out to grab for Chie when—

“HIIIIYAAH!!!” Chie yelled, grabbing at the stranger’s wrist. She set her feet apart, knees bent, and lowered her center of gravity and used her shoulder as leverage to throw the man forward and at their feet. The movement was so fast and practiced it was impressive, especially since Chie had said she was self taught for the most part. “You creep!” she yelled at the stranger before she saw that it was a familiar pair of eyes looking up at her. “Oh, Kou-kun!”

“Ow,” he told her and very actively looked away because what was under her skirt was very much in his line of sight. His cheeks dusted pink but he didn’t say anything.

“I’m surprised you’re here,” Chie said sheepishly as she held out a hand to help him up. He took it and she was surprised by how light he was and how easy it was to pull him back up. She even underestimated her strength and pulled him with a little bit too much force that he actually crashed into her a bit, but he scrambled off as gracefully as he could manage. “I know your family’s all prim and proper and all, so…”

He shook his head, blush still dusting his cheeks. “They’ve lightened up since high school,” he said cheerfully. “And man, was I missing out on so much!”

“You should hang out with us some time!” Chie told him, smacking him on the back a little too strongly.

“I’ll keep that in mind,” he nodded but then took a step back warily and squared off his shoulders. “Anyway… What are you guys doing here?” he asked and though his tone was still friendly he looked like he was on the defensive.

Ann picked up on that and frowned a little bit, lifting her gun to point it at him. “Winning,” she said curtly.

Chie almost let out a squeak, but then remembered their goal. Kou was a friend and all but as of now he was currently the enemy. He raised her gun as well, all friendliness gone. “We’re taking you guys down.”

“Oh,” Kou whispered as he lifted his own gun. He was at a disadvantage considering it was two against one, but he stood his ground. “So you’re the ones taking down the sports teams,” he said with an impressed little nod. “I should have know you’d be a part of that team,” he looked at Chie, and then at Ann. “Though not to be rude, I don’t think I’ve seen you before.”

“I’m a freshman,” Ann shrugged.

“A skilled one,” Kou added. “But I can’t let you pass. This is our territory.”

“Yeah well we don’t want the territory! We just want to win!” Chie argued. “Step aside Kou. Heck, why not join us?” she offered.

“Love to but can’t,” he said. And though he really really liked Chie, he had his loyalties to his team. “If they go down, I do too.”

“That’s pretty cool,” Ann said. “Are those your last words?”

Kou whistled in amusement. “Man, talk about Femme fatale.”

Chie grinned too and moved too fast for Kou to react. She yet again grabbed his wrist and twisted it behind his back, pushing him down to the ground with her knee pressed to the small of his back to keep him pinned to the ground. His gun clattered and skidded away from his grasp and he cursed softly under his breath.

Ann crouched down in what she thought was intimidatingly seductive. It was not. “We’ll see you when this is all over,” she smiled. Before he could give her a witty comeback, she shot his arm and Chie finally got off him.

He rolled onto his back and laughed, looking up at the girls he so carelessly underestimated. “Even if you do beat the basketball team, the soccer team’s still on the run,” he informed them, seeing as there was no point in playing antagonist anymore. “They have a lot more members than we do. Stronger and bigger.”

“I can take’em,” Chie said with a proud smile.

“I don’t doubt that,” Kou agreed.

“So I guess you’re like a boss battle, and the soccer team is the final battle for us?” Ann asked. She turned around and grabbed his gun, taking the bullets for herself and Chie. “Can you tell us about the soccer team?”

He gave Chie a very flat look. “It’s Daisuke.”

“Ooooh,” Chie exclaimed in understanding. “I got’cha.” She ran passed him and kicked the doors open, only to find it empty. “C’mon Ann! I bet they’re hiding in the locker room!” and without waiting, Chie dashed in without a care in the world.

Ann helped Kou up, and before she left him she placed a supposedly encouraging hand on his shoulder. She nodded her head once, as if she understood him completely.

“Wh… What’s that supposed to mean?” Kou asked.

Ann looked after Chie who was impatiently waiting for her at the locker room entrance. “Chie’s really cool,” she told him. “I can see why you like her.”

Kou spluttered, his face red. “It’s that obvious?!”

“You don’t really hide it very well…”

Kou groaned and shooed her away. “Just… Argh…”

“Don’t worry,” Ann winked at him and before she ran off to catch up with Chie she said “I won’t tell her!”

 

**[A few ways away from the campus…]**

 

Though he was far from the campus he had once called home, the young man could not suppress the shudder that he felt due to the ominous atmosphere that radiated from the buildings like palpable radio waves. He rubbed his arms, and stretched his legs out on the pavement in front of him. Though he was a respectable young man with a promising job and future, he still looked like he was a fresh graduate, and it didn’t help that his mannerisms and actions only added to the illusion of youth.

A motorbike roared from down the street and his head shot up. “Finally,” he muttered, pulling himself up and off the sidewalk before dusting himself down. As the bike screeched to a halt in front of him, he gave the rider a flat look. “Late.”

The rider disregarded his comment and tossed the young man a spare helmet. He lifted his visor, raised an eyebrow, before looking in the direction of their old school. “It’s that time of the year again huh…”

“Yeah,” the young man confirmed, popping his head into the helmet before hopping onto his friend’s bike behind him. “I thought that tradition was done though. Nanjo said—”

The rider shrugged. The only connection he had left of that school was the young man behind him. “It’s not our business anymore.”

“You don’t know that,” the young man dismissed the blunt response easily, as if he were already used to it. “Maybe you might find an apprentice. I know I’m going to try to see what the new batch of winners are like.”

“Of course you will,” the rider scoffed. And with that and without any warning, his bike darted forward abruptly, eliciting a unprepared yelp from his passenger.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> >Souji and Akira have a heart to heart. Their relationship with each other has deepened!
> 
> >Not really important to the plot but Yosuke, in this AU, is Clairaudient. The reason he keeps saying there are no ghosts there specifically is because he can't hear any of them (again if i make more fics in this universe u can betcha ass theres gonna be a ghost hunting thing)
> 
> >Chie and Ann, AKA Team We Will Run Head First Into The Unknown To Save Our Best Friends
> 
> >I also really like Kou and Daisuke lol
> 
> >Cameo from Naoya and Tatsuya!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


	6. Melting Point

**[Several ways from the main building…]**

 

Naoto let out a heavy sigh as she pulled her hat off her head and used it as a makeshift fan to cool herself down. After parting ways with the man who was her supposed contender for the title “Detective Prince” she ran into several more students who hardly stood a chance against her skills with her gun. Though she was still very young she already had a gun license, though she’s never actually used her gun on the field because she never really had to. Still, she always practiced. Her grandfather was a skilled teacher, after all.

She had used her bullets as minimally as possible but considering the large student population it was no surprise that she was down to her last ten shots. And with the crowd thinning out, there were less guns to harvest bullets from and less people to negotiate with. Her only real options left were giving up or taking the risk of infiltrating the main building by herself. But she is a Shirogane, and the Shirogane family of detectives would never give up if they could help it.

With another sigh she wiped the sweat off her brow before replacing her hat, crouching down behind the school’s famous water fountain where countless couples have professed their love for each other due to some old superstition that “couples who declare their love here will be together forever.”

The sun was slowly inching it’s way down the skyline, the sky turning into a brilliant shades of reds and oranges.

Naoto looked at the bubbling water behind her. She, for a fleeting moment, considered dipping her hands into the water to splash on her face but decided against it. Though it was supposedly the fountain of eternal love, it was also the fountain where drunken students accidentally spilled the contents of their stomachs into.

“What to do...” she murmured softly to herself, rubbing her chin in thought. She had been hoping to run into any of her friends, or anyone sensible at least, though luck was not on her side. She eyed the main building, her mind racing as it calculated for the quickest and most efficient way to get to the principal’s office. She had to take into consideration as well the fact that there were probably students already inside trying to get there, and she had to make a backup plan too in case the supplies were already tapped into by other people.

She flipped her phone. Still no signal, still very odd.

Though she was deep in thought, she was still very aware of her surroundings. She barely dodged the bullet that splattered against the spot she was once occupying. She rolled onto the grass with her arms tucked in before straightening up, eyes darting around quickly to find her attacker. She saw no one in the immediate vicinity and cursed, ducking behind a nearby trash bin to hide herself from whoever it was who tried to shoot her.

But then she heard another splatter, followed by a lot more. It sounded like a careless shot, possibly an accidental one too, before she heard a voice she was all too familiar with. “Naoto-chan!!!” the voice, distant but comforting to hear, coaxed her into peering over the trash bin. Again her eyes scanned the area for the voice, her gaze trailing up until she saw a blond boy waving at her from the rooftop of one of the nearby buildings.

She sighed in relief, watching as the blond boy waved his hands at his companions as if trying to dissuade them from trying to shoot her. The boy raised his arms and waved at her again, and in reply she raised the gun she was holding and waved back at him to show his companions that she meant no harm.

The boy leaned over the ledge, very dangerous and Naoto made a mental note to remind him of that later, and cupped his hands over his mouth as he shouted to her. “Don’t move! We’re gonna go to you!”

Though she knew it was bad for them to be shouting in such a quiet location, she couldn’t help but smile. It was nice to see a friend and against her better judgement she shouted back, though it was more muted. “Be careful, Teddie! I’ll meet you halfway.” And with all the stealthy skills she had, she made her way to the entrance of the building just as the boy came barreling down the stairs and eventually barreling into her. 

“Oh it’s so _beary_ good to see you!” Teddie said in that odd accent of his, pressing his cheek against hers like an overly affectionate puppy. “I was scared that I wasn’t going to see any of you guys!”

“It’s wonderful to see that you’re okay too,” she replied to him with a fond smile before gently pushing him back so that she could have her space. There were only a few people who could get away with being physically affectionate with her, and Teddie was on the top of that list.

There were footsteps behind him and Naoto raised her defenses just a little bit, and tried to remind herself that these people were Teddie’s friends. “Good evening,” she greeted.

“Good evening,” Aigis echoed with an exaggerated bow of politeness.

“You…” Makoto said with a small gasp, her fingers over her lips in her shock. “You’re Shirogane Naoto,” she appraised. “I’ve heard and read so much about you,” she continued as she approached them, wanting to get a closer look at the young detective. “My sister speaks very highly of you, I didn’t think that I’d get to meet you so soon!” she said excitedly and then winced when she had a realization. “And I never would have expected to meet you under such circumstances…”

“Ohh! Naoto, you have a fan!” Teddie exclaimed excitedly.

“Ah— Uhm, I suppose…” Makoto stuttered, a light blush dusting her cheeks. She couldn’t really deny his words since they were technically very much true.

Naoto too seemed to be bashful though she hid it much better. “Then I assume… You’re Nijima-san’s younger sister?”

Makoto nodded her head enthusiastically and hoped that it wasn’t too enthusiastic. She tried to control her emotions and when they were in check she smiled. “Yes, that’s right. I’ve heard about you from her and the work that you do is really amazing, especially, in this patriarchal world.” Though most people would be anxious when someone younger than themselves were more skilled, Makoto didn’t seem to see any problem with it. “You’ve been a huge influence to me.”

Now Naoto was openly blushing and even if she were aware of that fact she wouldn’t be able to will it away. “Th-thank you,” she managed to squeak out, standing a little straighter as she tried to ignore Teddie’s impressed _“oohs”_ and _“ahhs”_ at her side. “It’s hard work but knowing that there are people who… Look up to me is more than I deserve.”

Aigis shook her head as she placed a comforting hand on Naoto’s shoulder. “You are skilled,” she told Naoto with a firm nod. “I have heard many great things of you too, and I’m certain that the praise is not unwarranted.”

“Naoto-chan, you sure are popular with the ladies,” Teddie sang delightedly.

Naoto cleared her throat. She wasn’t used to being praised and showered with such positive vibes, it was almost uncomfortable but she still felt a little flicker of pride within herself. “Anyway,” she said as she adjusted the hat on her head. She looked around them, they were still alone, then let her eyes stray to the main building. “I don’t suppose you have heard of the rumors regarding the principal’s office?”

Makoto frowned slightly. “I’ve heard,” she said. “A lot of people have been trying to get in but from what I’ve observed most people came back out of the building in defeat.” She folded her arms and followed Naoto’s gaze. “I don’t think anyone’s reached the office yet, or if they have they’re waiting to ambush anyone who tries to get near.”

“Astute deduction,” Naoto said with an agreeing nod. “I was planning to head in there, risks be damned, but now that I’ve encountered the three of you then maybe we might have a better chance…”

Though Makoto didn’t intend to win the game, she wasn’t opposed to assisting someone she held high regards for. “Then let’s think of a plan.”

“Wait,” Aigis said, a warning in her tone. She stood in front of all three of them, arms outstretched on either side of her as if making herself a human shield. “There is someone watching us.”

“Wh—?!”

Aigis jerked her arm and pointed at a window. Though it was difficult to see, there really was a shadow lurking in the halls.

Naoto frowned and followed the shadowy figure with her eyes until it disappeared down a hallway. “So there really is someone there...”

“I think someone’s coming!” Teddie whispered harshly to them, gathering the girls in his arms and pushing them back into the building as several voices and footsteps carried through their empty campus. Their team ducked and hid with Teddie and Aigis hiding near the entrance, somehow communicating with just their eyes, while and Naoto and Makoto retreated a little further back in to discuss their next course of action.

 

**[Third floor of the main building…]**

 

“This is nerve wracking,” Souji muttered, his back to Akira to keep watch just in case The Reaper decided to sneak up on them.

Akira hummed absentmindedly in reply as he tinkered with the mechanism of the fire escape door. He didn’t want to set off the alarms, didn’t want to get into trouble for summoning the fire department, so the only real choice he had was to cut the wires so that it wouldn’t go off. It was simple but it took a bit of time, especially since he didn’t have his regular tools with him. “It’d be faster if we went through the windows,” he murmured. “But _someone_ doesn’t want to do that.”

Mildly miffed, Souji gave a pout but dutifully watched the eerie empty halls. “I’d choose nerve wracking over dangerous any day.”

“You’re pretty confusing senpai,” Akira told him as he tinkered more. “Without a second thought you broke a window with your bare hand and yet you won’t parkour out a building with me.”

“I don’t even know why you know how to disable alarms,” Souji tried to counter but it wasn’t really even related to what Akira was saying, though it was a diversion all the same. “I don’t even know why you have a lock picking set.”

“Made it myself,” Akira said proudly. Then he shrugged his shoulders. “It’s just a hobby don’t worry about it.”

“Sure,” Souji muttered and took a few steps back towards Akira. “Are you nearly done? I don’t want to rush you but it’s been awhile since we’ve seen him and I’m starting to get anxious…”

“Me too…” Akria agreed and, finally, the last of his tinkering was done. “But yeah, come on,” he said as he tugged on Souji’s wrist. He pushed the fire exit open, and the alarm didn’t ring, and finally dragged his senpai into the desolate looking stairwell. “Let’s be quick,” he told him and after he let go of Souji’s wrist he jumped over the railings to get down to the first floor as quickly as possible.

Souji watched his underclassman parkour his way down and shook his head. “Show off,” he muttered before carefully and quietly closing the door behind him.

Once they had both reached the bottom of the stairs, Akira tinkered with the locks again but it was quicker this time and they managed to finally get out of the building. Though they couldn’t rest just yet because there was no telling if The Reaper was following them, or if The Reaper would try to shoot at them from the windows as they retreated to the library. So they pressed themselves against the walls, making it so that they were hidden from anyone inside.

 

**[The backside of the gym…]**

 

“YOU’RE GOING DOWN, NAGASE!!!” Chie shouted with vigor, her arm shooting out in an exaggerated way before coming back in to give a very aggressive thumb down towards her new enemy.

“SATONAKA!” Daisuke shouted back with his head held high and his gun poised to shoot. He looked very much like a villain, though the smile on his face was more like excited fun than malicious glee. “HIT ME WITH ALL YOU’VE GOT!”

The scene before Ann had sparked because the moment they found the last of the soccer team was the exact moment they saw Daisuke shoot at a girl in red, who she found out through Chie’s dramatic yell, was her best friend Yukiko.

Yukiko, who was now officially out of the game due to the blue splotch of paint on the sleeve of her red cardigan, looked pleased to see her best friend. But now she was in stitches, doubling over with laughter with a hand braced against a tree to steady herself. She snorted out a _“you look like a bad guy!”_ at Daisuke and a _“save me, Chie!”_ at her best friend. She was incapacitated by her own laughter.

“Uhm…” Ann scratched the back of her neck while simultaneously shooting at a guy who tried to shoot her first. “What’s going on?”

The guy she had just shot pouted at the stain on his shirt, but answered her question willingly enough. “Eh… Daisuke gets dramatic sometimes…”

 _“Huwata!!!”_ Chie exclaimed like a true martial artist, kicking one a soccer team member and sent him crashing down. She continued forward, forgetting completely that she had a gun in favor of using her own martial artist skills. She was easily sending the guys flying back, barreling through them like they were nothing.

“You have a gun!” Ann reminded her to no avail, shooting at the fallen members so that they were officially out of the game. “You really don’t have to hurt them you know!” but her cries only fell to deaf ears. Though she was pretty sure she heard one of the fallen guys mutter a “I love a woman who can kick my ass” before promptly passing out.

Ann wasn’t even halfway done with shooting the rest of the team before Chie was standing right in front of Daisuke, her chest puffed out proudly like the warrior that she was. She thumped her fist over her chest with a loud thud, then pointed an accusing finger right at Daisuke’s nose. “You killed off my best friend.”

Yukiko, best friend in question, snorted again. “Stop telling everyone I’m dead!”

Daisuke swatted her hand away easily, puffing out his own chest as well. “And I heard you killed off mine.”

They stared down at each other, fire burning in their eyes.

Ann shot at the last surviving soccer member aside from Daisuke and came up a few feet behind Chie. With the most pitiful eyes she could muster, and a shy hand hiding her actor’s frown, she stared at him. And with practiced ease, she brought tears to her eyes. “I can’t believe you’d shoot at cute girls like us!!!”

Some of the guys looked guilty despite the fact that they were floored by supposed cute girls. Daisuke remained unaffected.

“Save it,” Daisuke grumbled.

“That kind of stuff doesn’t work on Nagase,” Chie told her with a dismissive wave of her hand, though her eyes were still locked on Daisuke’s.

“Aw, phooey,” Ann said with a pout. Then she looked at the two of them, still staring each other down like they were in some sort of action movie, and sighed to herself with a roll of her eyes. “I’ll check up on Yukiko-san I guess…” she muttered and pulled herself back and out of their little bubble to help Yukiko to her feet.

Yukiko had managed to have her guffawing down to little giggles. “Chie looks like she’s having a lot of fun.”

Chie raised her arms to balance herself as she took stance, ready to duke it out with Daisuke. Daisuke too raised his fists, preparing himself for the battle to come.

“Uhm… They… They have guns…” Ann said uncertainly. “Why… Aren’t they using them?”

“A man’s battle,” Yukiko said in the deepest voice she could manage, trying her best to look and sound serious. “Is a battle fought with bare hands— _snrrrkk…_ ”

“They’re not really going to—”

 _“HIYA!!!”_ Chie shouted and sent a kick towards Daisuke.

Daisuke dodged it easily though, and sent a punch towards Chie in retaliation. He was probably one of the only guys in the whole campus who would throw a serious punch like that at a girl and Ann wasn’t quite sure if that was a good thing or a bad one. At the very least it meant that he saw Chie as an opponent on equal footing.

Ann brought a hand to her eyes, looking away. “Tell me when it’s over.”

“GET’IM, CHIE!!!” Yukiko cheered.

By the end of the battle, Chie had ended triumphant and had bruises that she wore like medals. She raised her fists up in the air, one foot landing on the fallen Daisuke’s back. “I’ve avenged you, Yukiko!”

Ann rolled her eyes and mercifully shot Daisuke’s leg.

Chie stepped off Daisuke and approached Yukiko, giving her a huge proud smile. Yukiko was laughing still, though she did manage to suggest visiting the clinic to check if they had _Salonpas_ to help ease any pain Chie might be feeling.

Before Ann could follow the two best friends though, she heard the other soccer members scolding Daisuke.

“Dude what the hell?! You hit a girl!”

“That’s not cool, dude!”

“You gave her bruises!”

On any other occasion, Ann would have agreed with them. But considering the situation, Daisuke saw that Chie wanted a fight and he gave her a fair fight without holding him back. “Hey!” she shouted at them just as Daisuke managed to push himself up. “He fought her fair and square! And if Chie-san has a problem with him hitting her she doesn’t need you to jump to her defense! She can take care of herself perfectly fine!”

Chie turned back at the call of her name, jaw hanging open. She stared at the other soccer members who looked at her like they were waiting for her to say something, to say that Daisuke was out of line. She scratched the back of her neck and shrugged her shoulders. “We were just having fun?” she offered. She smarted everywhere, Daisuke definitely knew how to throw a punch, but she honestly had a lot of fun going all out and she felt good knowing that he didn’t hold back on her. “It’s just like sparring, I don’t see why it’s such a big deal.”

Daisuke nodded in agreement. “We should definitely spar again soon,” he said with a grin. “And I guess I wouldn’t mind handing Kou over if it’s you, Satonaka. I’m sure you’ll protect him.”

Chie looked a little bit confused at that and shrugged. “Kou’s out though. Oh, you should probably check on him too. I might have twisted his arm a little too much… Tell him I’m sorry?”

Daisuke nodded. “I’ll tell him.”

Ann stuck out her tongue at the other soccer members before following Chie and Yukiko back towards the clinic.

 

**[Outside the clinic, near the main building…]**

 

“Hey…” Yukari muttered with a small frown on their face. They finally escaped the creepy building the clinic was located at and she barely had any time to sigh in relief before her eyes caught sight of something. “What are those weirdos doing?”

The boys followed her gaze and saw two guys pressed up against the wall as if they were trying to mimic old Egyptian paintings. But both boys recognized the other two easily and though it was stupid they both shouted in their glee.

“Leader!”

“Partner!”

 

**[In front of the school building near the water fountain…]**

 

At the sight of his best friend running towards him, Akira had forgotten the imminent threat that was lurking within the walls of the main building. Pushing himself off the wall, he darted into a run as well as he raced towards Ryuji.

“You guys!!!” Ann’s delighted voice shouted loudly as she threw her gun into Chie’s arms. She dashed towards them as well and soon enough the trio had collided right in front of the water fountain, hugging it out as if they haven’t seen each other in years even though it was only just a few hours.

“You guys made it!” Ryuji cheered, one arm hooked around Akira’s neck while the other was hooked around Ann’s. “I can’t believe it!” 

“I expected no less from our leader!” Ann cheered too, her arms wrapping around the waists of her two best friends. “I’m so glad that you guys are safe!”

Souji panted as he raced after Akira, then finally rested his hands on his knees when he finally reached the trio standing by the water fountain. Luckily, no gunshots came after them so they were in the meantime safe and he let himself have a moment to let his guard down… Though that turned out to be a bad idea.

As he straightened up, he heard a voice calling for him yet again.

_“Partner!”_

And Souji found himself tumbling into the water fountain as Yosuke quite literally threw himself at him. They flailed and splashed in the fountain like a pair of toddlers drowning before finally sitting up and grinning at each other. Souji swiped his hand against the water’s surface, splashing water into his best friends face.

Yosuke spalshed water back at him before catching sight of his busted hand. “Bro, what happened to your hand?”

But Souji caught glimpse of the bandages wrapped snuggly around Yosuke’s arm and raised an eyebrow. “What happened to your arm?”

“What are you guys doing…” Chie’s voice whined as she crouched in front of the fountain, resting her elbows on her knees as she watched her friends.

“You look like hell!” Yosuke exclaimed at Chie.

“She fought an entire army for me,” Yukiko said dramatically. She sat at the fountain, dipped her hand in the water, then splashed bother her friends as well.

Finally, Yukari approached them, the only person within the group who hasn’t been reunited with any of her friends. Still, it was funny to see the immediate change in demeanor in both Ryuji and Yosuke the moment they saw their friends, and she couldn’t deny that the whole group’s happiness was so thick in the air and painfully contagious. She couldn’t help but smile. “Really,” she said with a shake of her head. “Are you guys seriously college students?”

And just before she could sit down too at the fountain next to Yukiko, a gunshot rung through the air, catching everyone’s attention. They all froze but Ryuji was the first to react as he watched another bullet fly and he pushed his best friend just as Ann pulled Akira away, and the three of them just barely dodged that bullet.

Ryuji briefly regarded his best friends on the floor now, they were both fine, before his head snapped in the direction of the gunshot.

The perpetrator was there, and Yusuke too, who was struggling to wrestle the gun out of his hands.

“AKECHI, YOU BASTARD!” Ryuji hollered, racing towards the detective and the artist.

But Ryuji wasn’t fast enough as another gunshot was heard.

Yusuke looked down at the stain on his white button up shirt in disbelief, hand going over the paint as if he were trying to stop actual blood from bleeding out of his body. He looked at Akechi, and Akechi stared back at him with equally shocked eyes, before falling to his knees dramatically.

“YUSUKE!” Ryuji screamed, sliding to his own knees to catch his friend in his arms before he fully hit the ground. “Stay with me, buddy!”

“Dude, what the fuck!” Kanji swore, grabbing Akechi by the wrist and holding it to the sky to prevent him from shooting anyone else. “I thought you said we were workin’ together?! What fuckin’ bullshit are tryina pull here?!”

“Kanji, calm down—” Akihiko tried gently, trying to pry the two of his teammates away from each other.

“YOU KILLED HIM!” Ann said as she approached Yusuke and Ryuji, falling to her knees now too to join in the acting. “He was so young, he had so much to live for!”

Akira was standing by them now too, looking almost like he wanted to cry. “He was going to be an artist,” he muttered. “You took that away from him…”

Akihiko, still trying to put himself in between Akechi and Kanji, gave the freshmen the most bewildered look his face could express. He decided to ignore them in favor of disarming a possible brawl for now.

Yusuke, still cradled in Ryuji’s arms, looked down at the stain on his shirt. It was somehow strikingly beautiful; even though it was just a single paint stain on his otherwise pristine shirt it spoke volumes. It was an argument, it was a battle, it was betrayal, all in one. “I actually kind of like it,” he told his friends but they were still too busy mourning his “death.”

“Sometimes, I can still hear his voice…” Akira said sadly.

Yusuke raised his head. “Why do you assume I’m dead? I’m still here…” but his question fell on deaf ears.

All the shouting and acting was escalating in volume; Kanji shouting at Akechi, Akihiko shouting at Kanji to calm down, Ann and Ryuji loudly fake-bawling for their fallen friend, and Yusuke trying but failing to assure them that he was alive. It had gotten loud enough that other people were starting to hear them.

“Sensei!!!!!!” Teddie screamed, finally revealing himself to the rest of the exposed people gathered around the school fountain. “You’re okay! And Yosuke! And _ebearyone_ too!”

“Ted!” Yosuke cheered and waved at the bubbly blond. “I thought you’d be dead!”

“Never underestimate my power!” Teddie winked.

“YOU SAID YOU WERE GOING TO HELP US!” Kanji screamed loudly, livid, on Yusuke’s behalf.

Just at that moment, Naoto was catching up to Teddie to see what all the commotion was about. As she approached the large group, with Aigis and Makoto trailing behind her, she locked eyes with Akechi who seemed to have caught her gaze the moment she was within sight. And Naoto watched, almost as if it were in slow motion, as Akechi’s free hand grabbed at the gun tucked in Akihiko’s holster. He didn’t raise the gun but the muzzle was pressed directly against Kanji’s stomach.

“KANJI-KUN—”

Shocked at the sudden pain at his stomach, Kanji reeled back as he let go of Akechi’s wrist. Just like Yusuke he was shocked that it had happened, staring down at the stain, at the hand that had shot him, and at Akihiko who looked just as surprised as he did. “What the hell…” he muttered.

Akechi stared at Naoto, their eyes locked. He looked bewildered too, though for different reasons. He was startled and amazed, he felt like it was profound destiny that led to him crossing paths with Naoto Shirogane once more. His bewildered look slowly morphed into one of excited glee and, since no more hands were on him, he dashed away from the group, recklessly running towards the main building with a smile that said _“catch me if you can.”_

Her shock lasted a moment before it was replaced with righteous fury. She gripped her gun tightly as a deep scowl made its way towards her face. “GORO AKECHI!” she bellowed and, despite the calls of her friends to wait, she ran in after him to avenge her friend.

Aigis, who had spotted her friend, approached Yukari and settled down beside her. “I do not understand what is going on.”

Yukari slumped and sighed, shaking her head. “I think we got stuck with a bunch of drama students…”

 

**[At the library…]**

 

“I’ve found the most recent year book,” Haru said as she dumped a large and thick book right in front of Mitsuru like it weighed nothing. “And if anything I suppose we could look through the school database for a list of the students currently enrolled here,” she pondered out loud as she sat next to her new friend. “But I don’t know much about computers so…”

Mitsuru bit at her lip and weighed her options; responsibility over her own curiosity. Though she had always been strict to follow rules, over the years she had mellowed out considerably. She decided that her curiosity needed to be fed and the most trouble she could get into was a verbal scolding from her father. “It’s okay,” she told Haru with a contented smile. “I am aware of how to break into the database of the school” by break in, however, she meant using her father’s executive account to easily access all the files. 

“That’s wonderful,” Haru smiled back at her, even clapping her hands in delight. She turned her attention back to the yearbook but frowned. “Though I hope our friends are okay…”

Suddenly two boys sat across from them with weary sighs.

“Oh, Arisato-kun. So I see you decoded our message.” Mitsuru looked proud of him.

“Ah, no,” Minato dismissed her softly. “It was—”

“My name’s Ryoji Mochizuki!” Ryoji greeted. Whatever fatigue he felt was easily hidden by an eager smile. “It’s so nice to be in the presence of such beautiful people.”

“Ugh…” Minato supplied.

“You look tired,” Haru noted with a tone of concern as she looked at Minato who looked like he was ready to fall asleep on the table. “Did something happen?”

“Death almost caught us,” Minato murmured.

“Death..?” Mitsuru echoed.

“The hooded guy!” Ryoji explained. “He caught us by surprise!”

“Oh, did you manage to see his face?” Haru asked hopefully.

Ryoji shook his head sadly and leaned his upper body against the table. They were running in circles just to lose the guy and he couldn’t keep pretending he didn’t feel tired.

“He has a blue watch though,” Minato commented.

Mitsuru frowned. “That’s hardly helpful…”

“How did you even notice that?” Ryoji laughed. “You’re amazing, Arisato-kun!”

 

**[The main building, first floor…]**

 

The mysterious figure stared down at the man who had almost actually shot him. He was impressed, he had to admit, but he was still probably the most skilled person in the whole campus.

The man who had almost shot him was on his back on the floor, looking up at him and waiting to be shot. “How fun,” he muttered with a small cough. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you here before and that is rather odd…”

Takaya Sakaki looked at the mysterious man pensively. In their scuffle, his hood had eventually fallen off and now he was staring at the eyes of the man who had easily shot down all of the students who dared to get to the principal’s office. Takaya had to admit to himself that the man was handsome, almost like a foreign actor, so he had a face that was hard to forget and Takaya’s memory was as sharp as an elephant. “I’ve been in this school longer than anyone else,” he commented. Due to his poor health he couldn’t take as many subjects per semester as everyone else so he was finishing his education at a rather slow pace. “And I’m certain that you don’t belong here.”

The mysterious figure pulled his hood back up and stayed silent.

“Ahh, I’m tired,” Takaya said after a prolonged silence. He supposed there was no point in talking anymore if the other man refused to talk. “I’m ready when you are, and I think I’d like to go home soon.”

The now hooded figure nodded at least, then pointed the barrel of his gun at Takaya’s chest. Without hesitation he pulled the trigger and stepped back before pulling away completely to stalk down the halls once more, leaving Takaya on the floor.

The hooded figure walked across the halls quietly, the chains that he wore on his outfit rattling softly like whispered threats. He stopped by a window just as he heard a scream, and he turned his gaze to watch a peculiar scene unfold before him in front of the school’s main building.

He had seen individuals and duos in the main building, so he found himself surprised to see a large group gathered by the fountain. He raised his gun and pointed at the silver haired boy he remembered from earlier but didn’t shoot. He reminded himself that his gun’s range didn’t reach far, and it would be a waste of bullets to shoot. It would also give away his position.

He crouched down instead, peering over the edge of the window as they all screamed and shouted at each other, at the sky, at no one in particular. Did these people not know that they were still in the battle? Have they forgotten or have they given up? He wasn’t sure.

He was debating with himself upon whether or not he should just ambush them anyway, even if they weren’t within the building, but before he could reach a decision one of the guys ran into the building and not long after a girl was chasing after him as well.

He pulled back from the window and stood up. He checked his guns to see how many bullets he had left and nodded.

He heard the footsteps come into the building.

He let his chains rattle once more.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> >confession time: the first scene i planned before writing this fic was literally at the reunion scene in front of the fountain. i just wanted akira, ryuji, ann, and yusuke being silly. they're my ot4 huhu
> 
> >im also souyo shipping trash hi
> 
> >Team Detective Prince at it again with their drama
> 
> >i actually also rly like takaya... i like streaga in general :^))))
> 
> >oh and uh Naoya and Tatsuya are unfortunatelly just cameo appearances,,, i dont know enough about P2 to write Tatsuya and his friends well and I only know P1 because of the manga
> 
> >sorry also for not sticking to the thurs/fri sched i was just so tired these last few days harhar
> 
> >ALSO FULL MOON TONIGHT AUG 7, 2017


	7. Forestall

**[Local kiosk…]**

 

Shinjiro doesn’t know how he found himself sitting in between two girls, and across from a couple on their first date. He sighed deeply, as if he was tired to the bone, and slumped against his seat— the food here wasn’t even that good, though it did help to quell his hungry stomach. He was still very positive though that he could prepare something much better, and to distract himself from the inane conversation around him he tried to think of a new recipe that he could possibly show off to Mitsuru at a later date.

Junpei looked like his usual self, making stupid jokes and talking a little bit too loudly, though it was painfully obvious that he was bashful what with his clumsy movement giving away his nerves. Just as he delivered another lame joke, his hand flicked and accidentally tipped a glass of water over. “Ah shoot. My bad,” he yelped, grabbing at tissues to pat at the puddle on the table. Luckily they were seated outside so floor clean up wasn’t necessary.

“You should really be more careful,” Fuuka scolded as she assisted Junpei with cleaning up his mess.

“I think he’s shy,” Rise giggled from Shinjiro’s other side, hiding her big smile behind the tips of his fingers. “And I’m not surprised,” she added, turning her attention away from the mess to stare at the girl across the table. “Chidori-san, you’re really pretty. Almost like a doll!”

Chidori, used to those kinds of comments shrugged her shoulders. “I dress the way I want,” she said curtly. To anyone else she sounded rude, but she seemed polite enough to the rest of the group.

Rise nodded at her eagerly, her legs swaying under the table in her exuberance. “That makes you cool too!” she explained. She jerked at her shoulders and spread her arms out as far as she could manage without bumping into Shinjiro’s personal space, making it look like she was trying to perform some sort of dance move in her seat. “You’re like the cool and mysterious love interest in a T.V. show, you know?”

Oddly enough, though they were worlds apart both in demeanor and interests, Rise was able to keep a conversation going with Chidori and even managed to rope in the rest of the table (sans Shijiro who was still spacing out) into sharing their own animated stories to keep their group lively.

At the table next to them, Ken watched IT student Jin Shirato nurse an iced coffee like it was hard liquor. The IT student, a few minutes after his interaction with Ken and Shinjiro that afternoon, literally passed out due to his constant lack of sleep. And though Shinjiro and Jin didn’t really seem to be on the best of terms, Shinjiro managed to convince him to at least rest with them for an hour or two before leaving to do whatever it was that he did in his spare time.

Jin really looked like he was ten seconds away from falling asleep. The only reason he was still awake was because of Futaba’s constant prying. Though at first she had been hesitant to talk to anyone aside from Fuuka and Rise, her eyes practically lit up like a Christmas tree the moment Jin mention that he was, in fact, really into computers like she was.

Ken couldn’t really keep up with their conversation. At first they were talking about basic things, like video games and T.V. shows, but once Futaba asked what sort of model Jin’s laptop was the conversation started to sound like a different language altogether. Jargon after jargon flew over Ken’s head and though usually he was perceptive and picked up on context clues whenever adults were talking in front of him, he couldn’t make heads or tails of their conversation at all.

Koromaru nudged his nose into Ken’s hand. Ken obligingly petted the dog and sighed. “Adults are so weird,” he mumbled softly. He brought his gaze up again and tried to make eye contact with Shinjiro but found that the older man was, uncharacteristically, spacing out. Ken took solace in that however, thinking at least that he wasn’t alone in feeling left out in their relatively large group.

After a while though Shinjiro did catch on to Ken’s restlessness and snapped himself out of his daze. He couldn’t really think of a recipe that would impress Mitsuru, though he did think of something that Koromaru might appreciate. “Hey, kid.”

Ken straightened his back like a soldier and turned his attention to Shinjiro. “Yes?”

Shinjiro stood up with a nod of his head, beckoning for Ken to follow. “Let’s go to Junes real quick. There’s stuff I wanna get before heading back to the dorms.”

Ken took the invitation easily and slipped out of the table, unnoticed by the two computer geniuses carrying on their conversation. Koromaru wagged his tail and followed but Ken raised a hand to stop him. “You stay here, Koro-chan,” he said kindly. “I don’t think they’d let you inside, even if you are the nicest dog I know.”

Koromaru’s ears drooped down.

Fuuka, who’d been watching their exchange, placed a hand atop of Koromaru’s head. “It’s okay, Koro-chan. You can stay with me for a while.”

Koromaru barked once and licked at Fuuka’s hand in appreciation.

“I’ll watch over him,” Fuuka told Ken with her small but bright smile. “Have fun with Shinjiro-senpai.”

Ken nodded enthusiastically, finally leaving the kiosk at Shijiro’s side.

“So, uh,” Shinjiro asked while scratching the back of his neck almost awkwardly. “What’s Koro-chan’s favorite food?”

 

**[At the water fountain…]**

 

Kanji tried desperately but to no avail to rub the paint stain off of his shirt. Every so often he’d dip his hand into the water of the fountain to splash some onto the stain and scrub but it did nearly nothing. “What the hell kinda paint is this anyway?” he grumbled to himself.

Yusuke, who was seated beside him at the fountain, rubbed at his chin while his other hand played with a pellet he’d taken from his gun. He had rolled the pellet in his hand long enough that it was soft to the touch due to the warmth of his skin and without hesitation popped the little pellet between his fingers. He rubbed the paint in between his thumb and index fingers, sniffing at them curiously. “I’m not certain,” he answered before dipping his hands into the water as well to clean them. “But if you’d like you could accompany me to my dorm. I know a remedy or two to aid in paint stain removal.”

Kanji slumped his shoulders in defeat. “Yeah, that’d be great. If anything, I can just turn this shirt into yarn or somethin’…”

Yusuke stood up and tilted his head in question. “Yarn..?”

Kanji nodded and, with a wave to his friends, began walking towards the dorms with Yusuke by his side. He began to explain that his hobbies consisted of knitting and other various arts and crafts activities.

“I was supposed to be helping them win but…” Akihiko looked at them walking away with a small frown on his face. He really should have paid more attention to Akechi, especially with Yusuke’s blatant dislike for him being a huge clue to possible betrayal. He scratched at his head, frustrated, and cursed himself for being too naive sometimes.

With a sigh he turned his attention to the rest of the gang, and though he was never really the leader type he decided to take the reigns and at least get some plans rolling along. If he couldn’t help those two win, he could at least give the rest of them a shot at it. “Alright, everyone,” he called and was thankful that they were all paying attention. “What were you all up to before all of this?”

“I was looking for sensei!” Teddie immediately piped up. “And then I ran into AI-chan, then we met Mako-chan, and then finally we met up with Naoto-chan!” he enumerated. “We were making plans until we heard _ebearybody_ here!”

Makoto nodded and turned her attention to Akihiko. “Yes, we were planning on infiltrating the main building but Aigis alerted us to the fact that there was someone else lurking there.”

“Affirmative,” Aigis nodded her head once in a very robotic looking way. Her head was turned towards the main building, eyes scanning each window for the shadowy figure that she had seen early. Whoever that was stayed hidden, or perhaps preying upon the fresh meat that had wandered into its territory. “I am… Concerned for Naoto-san…”

“We’ll get to her soon,” Akihiko reassured her.

“So there really is someone there,” Yosuke added into the conversation, before sneezing into the crook of his arm. He shivered and huddled up next to Souji, though his friend wasn’t really helping in keeping him warm considering he was shivering and dripping wet too. “When we were close by, someone shot at us.”

“Yeah. But I don’t think they’ve got a far range gun,” Yukari followed up. “And I don’t think they’re planning on leaving that building at all.”

“He’s like some sort of guard! Like in a video game!” Ryuji exclaimed. “I guess if this was a videogame we’d be at a save point or something.”

Though it was unprompted, both Yukiko and Chie stripped their outerwear and draped them over Yosuke’s and Souji’s shoulders. Yukiko stepped up then, a curious look on her face. “I saw him,” she told the group. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen him before.”

“You saw him?!” Yukari yelped. “Oh, is that how you got shot?”

Yukiko shook her head. “No, I managed to escape but not long after that someone else shot me,” she explained. “But I tried to talk to the guard—”

“ _The Reaper_ ,” Akira supplied, insisted really.

“...The Reaper… Uhm, yes. I tried to talk to him but he didn’t say anything. His face didn’t even move, it was almost like he was a robot.” She sighed.

Yosuke slipped his arms into the cardigan that Yukiko had lent him. It was a little tight but it was at least a little warm now. Souji did the same with Chie’s jacket. “That’s pretty badass, Yukiko.”

She gave him a proud and excited grin. “I did feel pretty cool, kind of like I was in a movie!”

“What about you guys?” Yukari asked Souji. “We saw you leaving the building really weird. What was that about?”

“We were running away from The Reaper,” Akira answered her. “He’s… I know he’s just a regular guy but he’s pretty intimidating.”

“Oh, yeah,” Souji quipped, suddenly remembering what their true goal was in the first place. “We were asked to meet in the library if possible. I’m not sure why though, so that’s where we were heading.”

“Who was asking?” Akihiko said with a small frown. It sounded suspicious, and almost too careless.

“I’m not sure,” Souji answered with a frown of his own. “But the library is safe so we thought if it was a trap we’d at least be safe there.”

They turned their attention away from the main building, towards the general direction of the library instead. Akihiko scratched at his head again as he tried to figure things out. “We should split up,” he said. “Who are our best players? We’ll be heading to the main building. Everyone else will scout out the library.”

The group looked amongst themselves. They were still a bunch of acquaintances so they weren’t really sure who was the best.

Souji pointed a finger at Akira. “He’s clever and quick on his feet,” he told their upperclassman. “And he already knows what it’s like inside the main building, and he’s got a few tricks up his sleeve.” He smirked softly at his underclassman.

Akira returned the smirk with one of his own. “Senpai knows the building like the back of his hand though,” he countered back. “He has a little map too, so he knows which rooms are locked and which paths are riskier.”

“Alright, so you two are with me,” Akihiko nodded. “Anyone else? Takeba?”

Yukari combed the ends of her hair absentmindedly as she considered her utility in an infiltration team. She had good aim but shooting inside buildings made her feel a little bit wary, she feared that she might accidentally shoot one of their teammates by mistake. “If no one else is offering,” she said after a while. “But I have to be in the back, I work better from afar.”

“I wish to go,” Aigis offered after a beat of silence. Her eyes were alight with determination and she raised her gun and checked the bullets. “It was a bit unusual to see Naoto-san as she was when she left us. I fear that she is not her usual self right now.”

“I’ll say,” Souji agreed. He turned his attention to Yosuke; it was a little bit unusual for Yosuke to keep quiet when he knew Souji was going in. When it was the two of them it was always ride or die. “Are you coming?” he asked privately, pulling his friend back a bit so that the others didn’t have to overhear them.

Yosuke shook his head with a small frown. “My dominant hand is all messed up,” he explained. “I’d just be a hinderance.”

“I’ll go,” Makoto said as she stepped forward. “I can take the front lines, I don’t mind if I get shot though I also don’t intend to go down without a fight. It’ll give the others a better chance at winning.”

Akihiko beamed at her, almost proudly even though he didn’t really know who she was. “I like your moxie, kid,” he said, raising his fist up towards her.

Makoto shocked for a moment, bumped her fist against his.

“The rest of you check out the library,” Akihiko commanded. “Who’s in charge?”

Souji raised his hand like he was in class, then nudged Yosuke forward. “I trust Yosuke with my life.”

Yosuke scratched the back of his neck and made a face that was somewhere between embarrassed, flattered, and appreciative. “Dude, it’s just a game…”

“I’m with him on that,” Ryuji offered with an encouraging grin. “You don’t really look it but you’re pretty wise and shit.”

Yukari gave a nod of approval.

“We’ll try to get rid of The Reaper,” Akihiko told everyone. “I guess you could say it’s kind of like a suicide mission but not in vain. We can’t all win anyway, there are only ten slots.” The infiltration team did not seem to mind this at all, which was lucky since that meant they avoided possible confrontation within their group. “I don’t mind getting shot either, so none of you have to try to take a shot for me. I’m your senpai so let me do that for you.” He gave a wry smirk and scoffed softly, finding his own words to be pretty cheesy.

The two teams separated with Akihiko and Makoto in the front lines, Yukari and Aigis at the back, and Souji and Akira in between to infiltrate the main building. Meanwhile Yosuke took lead with Ryuji to investigate the library, followed by Ann and Teddie, and Chie and Yukiko at the rear. 

 

**[Not long after, the main building…]**

 

The group hung around the entrance, making final preparations before heading into The Reaper’s den. They took this brief moment to converse, to get to know each other a little better, and this is when Akihiko found out about Akira’s situation.

“I’ve heard of you,” Akihiko affirmed. “The kid with a criminal record…” Before Akira could correct him though, he kept going. “But from what I understand it was under false accusations.”

“Legally, his name has already been cleared,” Makoto elaborated on Akira’s behalf. “But there’s only so much that we can do about the rumors about him.”

Akira frowned and sighed and resisted the urge to shove his hands into his pockets. He didn’t mind the rumors anymore, not as much as he used to, especially not now when three whole different friend groups seemed to like him well enough already, but he knew that the rumors would be a hinderance to him in the future.

Akihiko seemed to be thinking the same. “Then if anyone of us has to win it has to be you.”

Makoto eyebrows rose in question.

“The benefits are more than they let on,” Akihiko explained.

Yukari, who’d won during her second year, nodded. She’d been scouted as an actress of all things in preparation for the new release of Phoenix Ranger Featherman R. Not exactly the career path she was aiming for but it still fell in line with her goals anyway and she could still put her archery skills to use. “Whoever wins, whatever their year, they’re pretty much assured a successful future.”

Souji had won during his first year alongside Yosuke. He didn’t know that all those job offerings and interview invitations were correlated to that at all. He’d denied all of them though because he still wasn’t even sure of what he wanted for himself and for his future, and sometimes he thought of just going back to Inaba to take after his uncle.

Yukari and Akihiko began to explain the semantics of it all even if what they knew was still vague.

Akira looked a little bit like a fish out of water, his mouth opening and closing as he tried to think of a proper response. He was already prepared to face a future of obstacles, and if all else failed he could always just work for Sojiro anyway. It was a little overwhelming to find that there was a seemingly easy solution to the problem that’s been weighing him down for all these years.

“That’s… That’s wonderful!” Makoto said with a genuinely delighted gasp. She smiled widely at Akira and it was so obvious how happy she was for him.

“I… You guys don’t have to do that for me—” he tried.

“We’re your senpai,” Souji said strongly, resolutely. “You’ve had it rough, you should learn to let others take care of you for a change.”

Akira played with his fringe, an attempt to hide the grateful blush spreading on his cheeks. He had nothing to say.

Aigis smiled at him, and it looked so far from the usual straight face that she usually held. She did not know him well but she could feel the gratitude that he was feeling too. “Leave it to us,” she said as she held her head up high.

They all stared a second longer at the entrance before finally stepping in.

 

**[Towards the library…]**

 

“Sorry about your cardigan,” Yosuke apologized as he turned his head to look at Yukiko at the back. “I’ll get it back to you as soon as I can.”

Yukiko snorted. She was unarmed but out of the game so technically out of danger too. “It’s fine, Yosuke. Though it was pretty stupid of you to do that.”

“Yeah, you even dragged Souji-kun along…” Chie said in an almost scolding nature. “You better say sorry to him after all this.”

Yosuke rolled his eyes and shrugged his shoulders. He knew that he shouldn’t be too lax but after meeting up with his partner and the rest of his friends he felt a little less anxious now. There were power in numbers after all, and they were headed towards a neutral area so they were more or less safe.

Ryuji, despite his usually loud mouth, crept quietly along beside him. He kept moving ahead first, checking around corners for possible enemies and just to be safe in general.

“Hey, you know,” Yosuke said as they finally neared the library. “You really don’t have to feel guilty or anything…”

Ryuji jumped at the accusation, eyes wide and expression bashful and ashamed.

Overhearing this, Ann folded her arms over her chest. “What did you do?” she asked Ryuji, much like a mother catching her son with his hand in the cookie jar.

“Whoa, hey, it’s nothing like that!” Yosuke yelped then reminded himself to keep his voice down. “I was just looking out for him and got hurt in the process. It’s really not his fault,” he said with a meaningful look sent to Ryuji. The other boy averted his gaze and mumbled something out in reply.

“Oh, so that’s how it got busted up,” Chie hummed thoughtfully. “You’re really too nice for your own good, Yosuke,” she said with a frown though this time it was because of her friend’s carelessness towards his own welfare.

“Yosuke’s _beary_ nice!” Teddie agreed. “He lets me stay in his dorm with sensei when there are thunderstorms! Sometimes he goes to my dorm room instead too!” He jumped around a bit in his usual way of showing his enthusiasm, before circling Yosuke like a happy puppy, before grabbing his friend’s arm in an embrace. Aside from sensei, Teddie found himself terribly attached to Yosuke.

“Geeze…” Yosuke scratched his head and faced forward, trying to hide the blush from the rest of the group. He was supposed to be a cool and collected leader wasn’t he?!

“Let me check up on that when we get to the library,” Yukiko told him after. “It got wet so we should probably change the bandages or something.”

“Should we take a detour to the clinic?” Ann asked. It wasn’t too far, and they were a big group now so it was probably safer.

“No, it’s okay,” Yosuke reassured them. “It wasn’t that bad an injury anyway, it should be fine for a little while longer. Let’s just check out what’s up with the library first then we can split up after.”

“Split up? Yosuke, that’s exactly what they say in scary movies before the first character dies…” Chie said with a very heavy and anxious looking frown.

“One, this isn’t a movie, and two shut up. We’re here,” Yosuke grumbled and pushed the doors to the library open. It was quiet, and he gestured for the rest of them to be as quiet as possible too. Their group split up into twos to cover more ground and the deeper they went into the library the more they started to hear voices.

After a bit, Ryuji tugged at Yosuke’s sleeve. “We’re good,” he said, pulling himself out of the shadow of the bookshelf to reveal himself. “I know her, she’s a friend of ours.”

Before they could approach the group settled in the middle of the study area, Ann was already breaking the silent spell by jumping up towards Haru. “You’re here!”

“Ann!” Haru greeted with just as much enthusiasm, going in for the hug that Ann was offering. “I’m so happy to see you! And you’ve brought Ryuji too!”

“Yo,” Ryuji greeted with a warm smile. He gestured vaguely to the rest of the team and nodded. “We made friends.”

“How did you know where to find us?” Mitsuru asked. Even though everyone seemed to be on friendly terms, she couldn’t help her paranoia.

“Oh, I can answer that,” Yosuke piped up. The whole group settled around the table that Mitsuru and the rest were occupying and explained the current situation.

Mitsuru did not look exactly pleased and shook her head in disappointment. “Why am I not surprised that Akihiko is taking the lead?”

Minato chuckled softly, his head nestled comfortably upon his folded arms. “That’s senpai for you. We’ll probably _meat_ up with him later…”

“Hmm? You seem happy,” Ryoji commented even though Minato’s face remained completely neutral.

“In any case, it’s good to know that there are still a lot of us in this game,” Mitsuru began. “We’ve been pouring all our efforts into trying to figure out who this mysterious person is—”

 _“Death,”_ Ryoji and Minato said at the same time.

Mitsuru tried very hard not to roll her eyes and maintain her air of professionalism. “But we haven’t found a single clue. We were about to check the school’s database before the rest of you arrived.”

“Oooh, you can hack?” Ryuji asked, clearly impressed. He’d heard of Mitsuru Kirijo, everyone’s heard of Mitsuru Kirijo, and seeing her and hearing her talk in person was solid evidence to the fact that she was an impressively intimidating person.

“Ah, not really,” Mitsuru laughed softly as she stood up. She walked towards the computers in the research area, the team following behind her, and switched one of them on. “I just have access to the database is all.”

“We have a friend who could hack,” Ann added in casually. “If we could contact her, she’d have it done pretty fast but…” she pulled her phone out and checked. It was no surprise to see that her phone still didn’t have any service.

“So you’ve been having problems contacting others as well,” Mitsuru observed. “It wasn’t like this in the previous years,” she explained as they all waited for the computer to boot up. “I suppose they somehow managed to interfere with the reception, that way it would be more difficult for players to get into contact with companions that they truly trust.”

“That’s pretty sneaky,” Chie said with a wince. “Wasn’t last year supposed to be the last? Why is this all happening again?”

“That’s something I’d like to know as well,” Mitsuru replied solemnly.

“Oh, Yosuke, let me check your wound,” Yukiko reminded, making a beeline towards her friend.

“Right,” Yosuke agreed, and let himself be tended to. If he was a little younger he would have been ecstatic to have such a beautiful girl fret over him. But now that he actually knew Yukiko and saw her more of a friend rather anything else, he just felt appreciation at the fact that she cared about him.

“Wait, didn’t you say you saw the hooded guy?” Ann asked.

“Yes I did,” Yukiko answered as she carefully unwound the bandages from Yosuke’s arm. “He was… Pretty and handsome at the same time,” she began to explain then realized her description sounded very vague and very confusing. “U-uhm, he had bright eyes. I think he might have been a foreigner…” She continued to describe the mysterious man as best as she could while she tended to Yosuke’s wound.

Mitsuru frowned. Aigis was one of the many students in their foreign exchange student program and through her invitation Mitsuru was able to meet most, if not all, the foreign students. She doesn’t recall anyone fitting the description that Yukiko was giving her. But still, at least it narrowed down the list of suspects and she brought up the files that she needed. “After you’re done helping him, would you mind assisting in finding him?”

“Of course,” Yukiko said with a smile.

 

**[Main building, second floor…]**

 

“I do not understand your motives,” Naoto said with a frown, her gun held up and pointed at her enemy. Yet again they were face to face, guns poised and ready to shoot at any wrong turn. She knew she was upset about what happened with Kanji, and she tried her best to make sure that her emotions didn’t get the better of her.

Though the very fact that she was in a stalemate with Akechi once more was proof of her weakness at that moment. She tried not to dwell on it too much and focused. “What exactly is it that you want?”

Akechi smiled. He was just having fun, the most fun that he’s had in a long time. Maintaining his title as a Detective Prince was more work than anyone could even imagine, so he liked to believe that Naoto understood that; that despite how serious she was being right now, he hoped that she too was having as much fun as he was. After all, it’s still only a game. “I want… To get to know you, I think,” he answered her candidly.

“Well you’re not doing a very good job of catching my attention…”

“I beg to differ,” he said in what he hoped was a charming way. “You’re here with me now, aren’t you?”

Naoto was glad for the fact that she was very good at controlling her facial expressions. That had certainly caught her off guard and she gripped her gun tighter.

At her silence, he continued. “Do you think that once this is all over,” he asked, and he actually had the gall to put his gun down, his defenses all down in an instant. “You and I could go have dinner? Or perhaps some coffee if you’d rather prefer that. I know a lovely little cafe…”

This time Naoto couldn’t stop the surprised look on her face. And for a small moment the hold on her gun faltered. But she shook her head and focused. “What game are you playing at this time—” The expression on Akechi’s face changed drastically in such a short span of time: from genuine eagerness to sudden shock. 

Naoto didn’t move fast enough.

But Akechi did. 

He lunged forward, grabbing her wrist that was holding the gun to pull her away just as a bullet flew over her shoulder if she had stayed put. They collided into each other but managed to stay on their feet, though Naoto made quick work to pull herself away from him. Instead she spun around to see who had so easily snuck up on them.

The hooded figure lingered, his eyes watching them carefully.

“Who… Are you?” Naoto ventured carefully. Her dispute with Akechi would have to wait.

Akechi pursed his lips, partly annoyed and partly calculative. Annoyed because his lovely conversation had been so rudely interrupted, calculative because he was already planning an escape route as well as an easy way to somehow outwit the stranger. But he didn’t know who the stranger was, and couldn’t pick up on any physical clues because of how hidden his image was. He let Naoto do the talking for now.

The hooded figure stayed quiet, as he was asked to by his employer. Not a word, just shoot at anyone who came into the main building. He raised both his guns and pointed it at them.

Naoto took a careful step back, arm raised in front of her in defence. She shifted her gaze subtly to Akechi and he shifted his to hers. Despite the fact that, at the moment, they were on the same page, she couldn’t read him or understand him at all. She was good at having conversations without words but with Akechi she found it difficult to communicate.

“I hope,” he said again, picking up where he left off in their conversation. “That you really will consider my offer.”

“What are you—”

Akechi pushed her away just at the same moment he moved forward to grab at the stranger’s shoulder. Using his momentum he pushed the stranger with enough force that it dislodged him from his well planted stance, and using his free hand he grabbed at the stranger’s wrist and pointed it up at the ceiling. “Shirogane-kun, run!”

Naoto was startled for a short moment and then realized that she had to move if she wanted to stay in the game, that she had to move so that Akechi’s reckless move would not be in vain. “Akechi—”

“You can…” he grunted as he tried to wrestle the guns away from himself and away from Naoto. “Thank me later. At dinner. At a movie. Anything, it’s your choice.” He smiled, and he hoped that she saw that at least.

She gritted her teeth and didn’t deem him with an answer. Instead she just nodded and turned around, running away as fast as she possibly could. Just as began to ascend to the next floor, she her a round of shots.

Oddly enough, and against all odds, she hoped that Akechi was okay.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> >LIKE I SAID, I RLY LIKE JIN SO NOW HE CAN GEEK OUT WITH FUTABA.
> 
> >Kanji's talking about tshirt yarn lol. Also i didn't know friendship between kanji and yusuke would go so smoothly omg
> 
> >I ship chie and yukiko as well as souji and yosuke but i also really enjoy a loving caring friendship between all four of them
> 
> >also in PQ Chie mentions that yosuke's too nice for his own good. its a really cute and sweet moment huhu
> 
> >AKECHI AND NAOTO STRIKE AGAIN.


	8. Mini Bosses

**[Outskirts of the school campus, early evening…]**

“This is taking longer than any of the previous games I’ve ever been in,” Shinjiro muttered softly, but loud enough that the rest of their group heard. Many of the students had gone home or to hang out so it was pretty much a ghost town. He didn’t hear a single sound, or see anyone else around aside from their group.

Jin was sitting on the sidewalk, Fuuka’s laptop resting on his lap as he typed away some difficult code. He was the one that the higher ups commissioned to make it so that communication within the campus was impossible, but no one needed to know that and his conscience was silenced with the hefty price they had paid him. Though it was never in their deal that he could shut it down whenever he pleased. Besides, he needed to contact Takaya soon. His friend was due for a hospital checkup soon.

Fuutaba peered at the screen with animated interest, her eyes alight with cheer as she scanned the lines and lines of numbers and letters that made complete sense to her. “That’s a pretty solid code,” she commended.

Jin puffed out his chest a bit and squared his shoulders. “Yeah, whoever made it must be pretty good.”

Fuutaba pushed at the bridge of her glasses further up her nose, and the lenses of her glasses glinted under the street light that conveniently flickered to life above them. “I could do better.” And that one statement escalated to yet another argument consisting of computer vocabulary that no one else understood.

“They’re getting along well,” Fuuka chuckled with a smile. She turned her attention to Shinjiro who looked tense despite his calm demeanor. “Don’t worry, we’ll be able to contact them soon.”

Shinjiro grunted but gave a stiff nod.

The rest of their group was crouched down, talking in hushed voices as they idly played with Koromaru. Rise and Chidori were discussing Lolita Fashion, and Junpei was asking Ken about how his school life was coming along.

“Something doesn’t feel right this year,” Shinjiro said, this time quiet enough so that only Fuuka could hear him. “It’s like there’s something in the air.”

Fuuka nodded and approached him, staring passed the gates and further in. There were no lights on in most of the buildings, and the street lamps weren’t really doing much aside from lighting up the sidewalks. “We should go in if we can’t contact them in an hour—”

“We’ll have communication up and running in 10 minutes!” Fuutaba called, somehow hearing Fuuka despite the distance between them and despite the soft volume of Fuuka’s voice

“Thanks,” Shinjiro offered her.

Fuuka smiled and placed a comforting hand on Shinjiro’s arm.

 

**[Main building…]**

 

Naoto found herself alone again, though that is not what perturbed her. The man that had shot Akechi was hot on her trail, his footsteps echoing along hers as she ran. Though logically Naoto knew the other man was just a player like herself, she couldn't stop the trepidation that she felt, the downright fear as if she were being pursued in a horror movie or something of the likes. She did her best to stay calm.

Focus, focus, focus, she repeated in her head in a mantra. Her actions leading to this point had been reckless, she was aware, and she was trying to think of a way to compensate for her mistakes for the sake of the rest of her friends. Her pursuer was skilled and from what she observed he was fully decked out with a bullet belt specifically made for paintballs. That in itself was odd, but a question that she’d save for later. What was important now was to lead the stranger away from the principal’s office, where the others were most likely trying to get to.

She ran down the hall and into a storage room, three floors up and away from the principal’s office. She had kept her speed fast enough that she was just out of the strangers reach, but slow enough so that the stranger wouldn’t lose sight of her. A showdown was what she was looking to gain, and after her showdown encounters with Akechi she was confident in the fact that she could put up a fight against the skilled stranger, and at least buy the others some time.

Prepping her gun, she strained her ears to listen as the door creaked open loudly followed by the sharp footfalls of her enemy. She stared at him, gaze hard. “Your tyranny ends here,” she declared bravely.

The stranger tilted his head curiously, a small breath escaping his lips. His voice was deep and clear as he spoke. “It is pointless,” he told her as he raised his guns. “Your victory will have no meaning, you are wasting your time.”

She eyed him critically and decided that she could just ask him questions later.

She shot at him but he easily dodged the bullets and retaliated. He aimed for her shins as he dove away from her range of fire, gracefully rolling behind a rickety old shelf. Naoto jumped back, barely dodging his attacks too. It was cramped in the room, and the chances of her escaping unscathed was near impossible. She had to shoot him, or at least stall him- so she bravely went after him instead of being her usual careful self, shooting at him with reckless abandon hoping that her flurry of bullets would at least graze him.

And her gamble was fruitful, the stranger had been shot and she let herself grin. She pulled herself back and nodded, watching the man carefully as he regarded the new paint stain that colored the thighs of his left pant leg. “Now if you would be so kind as to tell me why you’ve been so adamant in—”

She barely felt it. It didn’t really hurt, but the shock was what rendered her speechless. She stared at the blue paint stain that rested right where her heart was, before bringing her gaze back to the stranger.

He walked to her slowly and gave her a nod, placed a hand on her shoulder before he left her. “I told you,” he muttered. “It was useless.”

And before she could turn around to ask what he meant, he darted out of the room and dashed down the halls much faster than he was when he was chasing her. She stared after him with wide eyes. He was a man who was invincible because he either didn’t care about the rules, or because he knew that he was immune to them. Her hand curled into a fist, and she banged it against the doorframe. “Something’s not right,” she said through gritted teeth, brows knitted together in frustration.

She needed answers.

 

**[First floor, main building…]**

 

“It’s quiet,” Akihiko whispered as they slowly crawled the hallways towards the principal’s office. They ran into a few other students along the way, but easily took them down considering their number and strategy. “It’s a little unnerving…”

“It’s getting dark too,” Makoto supplied looking less than thrilled. She wasn’t usually scared of the dark, but there was something uncanny about walking in an empty school hallway after hours and it was giving her goosebumps that she couldn’t quite shake off. “I really hope this is over soon,” she said with a wince, her voice almost too loud in contrast to the quiet.

“We’re almost there,” Souji reassured her as he look at his blotchy map. It was still wet from his fall into the fountain but he understood it well enough. And though he practically memorized the entire school like the back of his hand, it felt like an entirely different place when it was shrouded in darkness. “It sort of feels like we’re breaking rules here,” he said, trying to ease the tension in the air with idle talk. “Almost like breaking and entering.”

Yukari let out a dry chuckle, engaging in the conversation because she was starting to get scared despite her best efforts to ignore the creepiness of it all. “We’ve done that before,” she commented. “Breaking and entering.”

Akira turned around to look at her, eyes wide and disbelieving. “Really?” she looked like such a model student, but he should have known better than to judge people by appearances alone.

“To be fair,” Akihiko added. “It was to help someone out.”

“Yamagishi-san has told me of this event,” Aigis supplied. “Though I’m quite certain that she may have omitted some parts from me. She did not seem to be comfortable talking about it.”

Yukari’s shoulders slumped a little as she nodded. “Yeah, yikes. That was such a terrible time,” she let out a little sigh. “But it all worked out in the end I guess.”

“And we didn’t get into trouble,” Akihiko grinned.

“Sounds like a real story,” Souji hummed thoughtfully before grabbing at Akihiko’s shoulder to stop him. He pulled at his senpai’s shoulder a little bit, turning him so that he was facing a door. “You guys can tell us about it later if you like but this is it.”

The group stared at the door carefully.

“This feels a little bit… Anticlimactic,” Makoto said after a beat of silence.

“Do you think that maybe Naoto got to The Reaper?” Souji asked as he looked down both ends of the hallway. Somehow, it almost looked longer than it should be.

Almost as if he were summoned, The Reaper appeared around the corner and picked up speed as he caught sight of them.

“Tch!” These were the last few moments of the battle, and Akihiko was tired of playing it safe and stepping back. “Seta, make sure that Kurusu is safe,” he ordered as he dashed forward to clash. “Nijima, lets go!”

“Roger!” Makoto agreed, racing right after him.

“The door!” Yukari yelped then put herself in front of both her underclassmen. She tried to aim at The Reaper to give Akihiko and Makoto back up. “Get the stuff and go!” she commanded.

Akira didn’t really like the idea of letting someone else fight battles for him, and judging from the unhappy look on Souji’s face his senpai felt the same. But he understood that they were doing this for his sake so he turned to the door and twisted it but “it’s locked!” he grumbled, reaching into his pocket for his lock picks.

“Step aside!” Aigis said, none too gently shoving him out of the way in her urgency. She took a step back and raised her leg, ramming her foot next to the door knob. The door shook under the force of her kick but didn’t swing open immediately until she gave another, quicker, kick.

The door swung open and it triggered a ticking noise, one that seemed to escape Aigis’ notice.

“Wait!” Souji yelped, trying to grab for the blonde’s arm but she slipped right from his grasp. He pushed Akira aside, away from the door, just in time too as the ticking came to an abrupt stop before and explosion rang out in front of them.

Akira rolled away as the paint splashed Souji’s front side, covering him from head to toe in an annoying bright green that hurt his eyes. “Senpai!” he yelled, but Souji raised a hand to stop him from coming any closer.

“I’m fine,” he assured Akira, bringing his hand to his face to wipe his eyes clean. “Aigis-san?!”

“I apologize,” the girl said with a frown on her face, stepping out of the office. She was covered in green pain as well. “This was a trap.”

“You guys?!” Yukari looked back and nearly screeched. “What the?! A BOMB????”

Akihiko had run out of bullets pretty quickly. Even though all his bullets hit his target, his target refused to stand down. He tossed his gun aside and resorted to physically trying to stop The Reaper from getting anywhere close to his underclassman. “Takeba!” he shouted. “Take Kurusu and go!”

“We’ll hold him off!” Makoto agreed. She too had discarded her gun, trying to pull The Reaper away from Akihiko as they grappled with each other. “He’s not abiding to the rules! He’s rogue!”

“Oh, geeze! Things just keep getting better and better!” Yukari yelled, withdrawing from battle. She ran towards the rest of the team, bending down to grab Akira by the wrist before hastily pulling him up to his feet. “C’mon, let’s go!”

“But senpai—”

“They’ll be fine! Keeping you safe is what’s important right now!” she scolded him, tugging at him a little harder. “C’mon!”

With a final glance towards his companions, he nodded.

The two ran as fast as they could manage, and when they finally exited the building again they didn’t dare to slow down. “If he’s gone rogue, it’s not safe anywhere!” Akira shouted at Yukari, glancing over his shoulder to see if they were being followed. They weren’t but he didn’t feel safe enough to stop.

Yukari looked like she was thinking the same as she took lead, running into one of the buildings where the library was located. “Then we have to warn the others,” she answered back at him.

Akira paused and locked the doors behind him.

“That’s a good idea,” Yukari said as she stopped as well, panting to catch her breath. But she still kept moving, walking towards the library. They locked each door behind them, and knocked down anything onto the path to serve as an obstacle in case The Reaper was finally rid of the rest of their group. “What’s even up with that guy?!” the archer finally exclaimed as she pushed the library’s main doors open. “What the hell are we supposed to do?!”

Akira shook his head, at a loss. “This didn’t happen last year?” he asked her. “Or any of the previous years?”

“No, not that I recall. The game this year makes no sense at all! It wasn’t even supposed to happen!” she told him in aggravation. “What’s the point of all of this then if that guy’s all trigger happy?”

“Takeba-senpai?” Yosuke asked as he peeked from behind a bookshelf. He pulled his headphones down, glanced around the room warily, before giving her a grin. “Where’s…?”

“Is everyone still here?” she asked, practically stomping over to him.

“U-uh, whoa. Yeah, we’re all still here. And we found others too,” he answered, looking a little bit confused at her aggressive behavior.

She nodded and walked passed him, towards the rest of the voices that she now heard.

“What was that about?” Yosuke asked. He’d been staying by the entrance to be a lookout. He hadn’t expected anyone back so soon. “Where’s everyone else?”

Akira put a hand on his shoulder and gently guided him to join the rest of the group. “We don’t have much time to explain,” he answered. They joined the rest of the group just as Yukari finished filling them all in.

“What do we do now, senpai?” Yukari asked beseechingly. “We already shot that guy down but he still tried to attack us? Can’t we disqualify him or something?”

“Now that you mention it,” Mitsuru said with a careful tone, looking out the window to make sure there was no one heading their way. “It is odd. Have any of you noticed any arbitrators? I’ve been too engrossed with everything that it escaped my attention.”

The group looked amongst themselves with equally confused expressions.

“I don’t think so…” Ryuji answered hesitantly when no one else spoke up.

“This year’s game wasn’t supposed to be approved, but due to complications the paperwork wasn’t accomplished. We were supposed to get to the bottom of that, but so far our efforts have been useless.” Mitsuru shook her head unhappily. “It doesn’t make sens—”

“Wait!” Ann said loudly, raising her phone up to everyone. “Guys, I’ve got a signal!” it was weak but there. She brought her phone back to her face before waving it around and above her head. “I think if we just—”

“The reception in the library has always been pretty weak,” Chie said as she watched Ann do a weird dance to somehow boost the bars of her phone. “Maybe if we get out—”

“He’s out there,” Akira muttered.

“And he’s strong,” Yukari agreed. “Seta-kun and Aigis can’t really do anything, they’re already out of the game.”

“Well, if the dude’s gone rogue then why can’t they just…?” Ryuji asked.

Yosuke made a face, somewhere between annoyed and accepting. “Partner’s an odd guy. He’s gonna respect the rules so he’s probably not going to be able to do anything.”

“That certainly does sound like something Souji-kun would do,” Yukiko agreed.

“We can’t stay here too long,” Akira told them. “We have to move. If The Reaper is still shooting at people even when he’s already out of the game, then there’s no telling what other rules he might break just to win.”

Ryoji jumped off from the table he’d been sitting on, giving everyone a bright smile. “I’ll be a distraction.”

“Ryoji…” Minato gave him a small frown.

The boy in the scarf waved his hand dismissively as he walked towards the door. “It’s no problem, I don’t really have any intention of winning anyway. This whole paintball game has been fun and all but it’s been more fun just talking with you,” he answered with a grin. “So the sooner this is over the better, and maybe you and I can go on a date sometime?”

All eyes turned to Minato. Though he and Ryoji (mostly Ryoji) had been having a ridiculous back and forth the entire time they were in the library, they didn’t really expect Ryoji to actually blatantly ask him out like that. It wasn’t really the time and place. “You’re weird,” Minato said instead of answering.

“I’m not hearing a no?” Ryoji teased him but didn’t give him time to retort. “I’ll see you all again later when this is over,” he told them with a final smile. “Good luck.” And then he left where Yukari and Akira came in, humming to himself as he skipped over the mess of the hallway.

“A-anyway,” Ann said. “Let’s move up. There’s probably better signal up there.”

As the group began to gather to move, Minato lingered back. “I’ll stay,” he muttered.

His friends, used to his soft voice, heard him easily enough. Yukari gave him a small frown. “What for?”

“To buy you time,” he answered, walking towards the entrance of the library to the rest of them. “If Death is skilled and unrelenting, then he’s going to get passed Ryoji no matter how hard he tries,” he answered. “It’s better this way.”

Yukari looked hesitant to leave him behind but Mitsuru gave him a firm nod.

“I’ll stay too,” Yosuke agreed then gave them all a grin. He walked over to Minato and wrapped a friendly arm around his shoulder. “Me and this guy can be like a mini boss level before he can get to you all.”

“ _Personal space…_ ”

“Ohhh, I get it!” Ryuji exclaimed excitedly. “That sounds like a lotta fun!”

Mitsuru regarded them carefully. “I see, so this will be a battle of attrition,” she looked as impressed as Ryuji did. “Very well. Then I propose that we continue this way, with certain people at checkpoints to make sure that Death doesn’t catch up to us.”

“Oh, oh, oh!” Ryuji raised his arm, jumping excitedly like a kid. “Me, me, me! I wanna be the next boss!”

“Count me in too!” Chie exclaimed, looking fired up. “This is starting to sound like a lot of fun again!”

“Go on,” Yosuke urged them, pushing at Chie and Ryuji’s shoulders. “Plan while you move.”

The group left Minato and Yosuke at the library entrance, Making plans as they walked further down the hallway and eventually up the stairs.

“I see you like music,” Yosuke said, eyeing the earphones still draped around Minato’s shoulders.

“You too,” Minato answered back, eyeing the headphones resting on Yosuke shoulders.

“We should hangout sometime.”

Minato raised an eyebrow at Yosuke.

“Wh-what?” Yosuke asked, suddenly self-conscious.

Minato looked away, down the hallway, where he could hear a commotion happening. “Are you asking me out too? I’m so popular today…”

“Geeze,” Yosuke groaned, kicking the back of Minato’s leg gently in exasperation. “Smartass…”

 

**[Next floor…]**

 

Further up on the next floor, Chie and Ryuji stood side by side and gave the rest of the group a salute. They stood on either side of the stairwell, looking down and waiting in anticipation. It was still pretty quiet, though they could still hear the distinct sound of guns firing father down below. Death was probably up against Ryoji by now.

“I’m a little excited” Ryuji said, shifting his weight from one foot to another as they waited. “It’s kinda like that feeling you get before a major competition, y’know? Excited but nervous. I almost wanna hurl.”

“Ew,” Chie answered him, taking a very deliberate step away from him. “You can send your projectile vomit at that weirdo instead of me, thanks!” she made a face at him, then pointed down the stairs. “Hey, maybe if you puked now he can slip on it.”

“Ewww,” Ryuji mirrored her disgusted look before they both broke out into chuckles.

The gunfire stopped.

Chie gulped. “They say the quiet before the storm is worst part of any battle,” she jumped from one foot to another for a moment, then gripped at the railing of the stairs. “Oh no, now I’m starting to feel a little pukey too…”

“Gross,” Ryuji said with a nervous chuckle. “But hey, I guess we can go all out.”

She nodded excitedly at the prospect. She just had to be patient. “Let’s do our best,” she told him. She made a very unfeminine noise at the back of her throat before spitting into her hand. She stuck it out in front of her and stared back at him expectantly.

Ryuji’s eyes were wide. “I haven’t done that since I was a kid,” he said with awe in his voice. He made the unfeminine scratchy sound as well before spitting into his hand. He grabbed hers and they shook on it, nodding at each other with mutual determination.

“A man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do,” Ryuji nodded.

Chie raised her fist in the air triumphantly “Let’s end this!”

 

**[One floor above…]**

 

A little further down the hall Yukari and Ann stayed behind as Mitsuru, Haru, Yukiko, and Akira went on ahead.

Yukari stomped her feet impatiently, looking a lot like a child doing the impatient dance. “I just want this to be over soon!” she complained.

Ann looked a little bit bewildered by her companion’s childishness. She seemed so mature earlier, it was a little funny to see her the way she was now. She wasn’t quite sure how to respond. “It’s almost over,” she told her gently.

“I know but this place is giving me the creeps!” she said unhappily, frowning petulantly at nothing in general. “It’s so dark, it feels like something’s going to sneak up on us at any moment.”

Ann nodded in agreement and hummed softly as she looked around. She turned on the flashlight function of her phone then crouched down. She positioned her phone to lean against the wall, letting the light flood in their immediate area. “That’s better!”

“Oh!” Yukari exclaimed, blinking at the sudden brightness. “Thanks,” she said, giving Ann an appreciative smile. “Sorry, I just get really antsy in the dark.”

“That’s alright,” Ann dismissed with a wave of her hand. “It’s kinda cute actually. You look and act really brave but I guess everyone’s afraid of something.”

“I’m not scared of the dark,” Yukari answered curtly. “It’s just… Probably not good for my heart if he surprises us.”

Ann laughed a little bit a smiled. She tried to pretend she couldn’t hear the gunshots a few floors below them and puffed out her chest and held her gun at the ready. “Hey maybe after this is all over we can go get something to eat.”

“Now that you mention it,” Yukari muttered softly under her breath as she joined Ann at ther side. “I’m starving.”

“Do you like sweets?” Ann asked a little bit excitedly. “I know this great crepe place! We could totally hit that up after we’re done here!”

Yukari smiled a little bit. She didn’t have many friends outside of the friends she’d kept since high school; a lot of people looked up to her and thought her cool, but they always made her out to be untouchable like some sort of weird idol. It’s been a long time since anyone’s invited her out to just relax. “Sure, that sounds great. I’m not really supposed to eat overly fatty foods but…”

Ann gave her a victory sign. “Cheat day!”

They nodded at each other, a little more confident now than they were previously.

 

**[Rooftop…]**

 

“We’re finally here,” Mitsuru practically gasped as she kicked the doors to the roof open. She, Haru, Yukiko, and Akira spread out across the rooftop, cellphones raised at various heights in hopes of catching any sort of signal. Their bars flickered for an indiscriminate number of minutes and they tried to stay patient as they waited.

“Someone will pay for this,” Mitsuru said with a glare that could freeze hell over. “Whoever’s responsible will see their end by my hand.”

Haru giggled at the intensity of her proclamation. Mitsuru was so serious in everything that she does, it was both silly and admirable and charming all at once. She found it kind of funny that, earlier that day, she thought Mitsuru was unapproachable. “They won’t escape our wrath,” Haru added in agreement.

“Guys, over here!” Yukiko called with a wave of her hand to beckon them closer. She was leaning against the metal fence that encapsulated the space, her hand sticking out through the diamon slot for signal. “It’s strongest here!”

The other three approached her, watching as the signal bars of their phones skyrocketed suddenly to completely full.

“It’s finally going to end,” Haru muttered, looking at her phone. She gave Mitsuru and Yukiko a meaningful smile before pressing the speed dial for her father’s number. “I’m going to ask my father for some answers.”

“I’ll go guard the door,” Yukiko told them as she extracted her arm and replaced her phone back into her pocket. “I’m not in the game anymore but I can at least distract him if he reaches us.”

“We’ll be counting on you,” Mitsuru said seriously with a stiff nod. “Leave the rest to us.”

Yukiko smiled, let out a short giggle, before going to the doors, closing them softly behind her with a click.

“I guess technically the winners of this game aren’t really winners anymore huh,” Akira said softly, mostly to himself. He had hoped for a moment that his friends efforts wouldn’t be in vain. But he had to stay realistic, and if his reality meant that his future would be laden with hardships then so be it. At least he knew now that there were people outside of his friend group that cared for him, that didn’t judge him, even though he was a complete stranger with a supposed criminal record. He sighed and played with his fringe nervously.

“No, I suppose not,” Mitsuru said with a solemn nod. She wasn’t aware of Akira’s situation, but she still tried her best to sound comforting. “The administration’s making certain shifts so that enrollment procedures will go smoothly for all students. Though considering current circumstances, I’ll be sure to oversee the progress of the shift so that complications like this,” she made a grand but vague gesture around them, “never happen again.”

“That’s… That’s good…” Though Akira didn’t really sound too happy about it.

Just as she was about to say something, Mitsuru’s phone rang. She shared a look with Haru and, finally, pressed the accept call button and pressed her phone against her ear. “Tell me everything, Odagiri.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> omg,,, sorry for the literal month delay,,,, i,, , lost,,, motivation, , ,, BUT I INTEND TO FINISH THIS BECAUSE I ALREADY HAVE 2 WHOLE FICS PLANNED AFTER THIS ONE, SET IN THIS UNIVERSE ALSO,,, this fic was literally written on the go, so there isn't an ending yet until i think of one lol
> 
> the other two tho, i actually planned and outlined so stay tuned for thaT HAHA
> 
> unbeta'd but so were almost all of the chapters before this so :')


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